Kashmir Accession to Pakistan Day marked across country

Demonstrations held; complete strike in IHK as
three more protesters martyred by Indian Army

ISLAMABAD/SRINAGAR: The Kashmir Accession to Pakistan Day was marked across the country on Tuesday condemning the Indian brutalities in held Kashmir and showing solidarity with the Kashmiris for their right to self-determination.

Public and private organisations arranged seminars, conferences and discussion programmes in connection with the day and condemned the Indian forces’ brutalities in occupied Kashmir.A All Parties Hurriyat Conference seminar titled ‘Bleeding Kashmir call for attention’ was arranged in Islamabad by the Kashmir Youth Forum and other stakeholders in connection with the Accession to Pakistan Day.

The speakers in a unanimous resolution condemned the killings of innocent Kashmiri people in occupied Kashmir by the Indian forces and urged the government to call a joint session of parliament to convey a strong message to the international community that Pakistan stands with Kashmiris in their just cause.

They also called for arranging separate conferences to highlight the Kashmir issue at the national and international level.

The conference of International Union of Journalists should also be called to adopt a strategy against attacks on journalists in held Kashmir.The resolution demanded the release of political prisoners and lifting the ban on the visit of political delegations.

Leader of the House in the Senate Raja Zafarul Haq said the international community, OIC, United Nations and Human Rights Council will not come forward to resolve the Kashmir issue unless Pakistan makes the Kashmir issue an important part of its national agenda. He said the government has to change its policies regarding India on trade and other matters to make the Indian government realise that we cannot compromise on the killing of innocent Kashmiris.

Kashmir Committee’s head Maulana Fazlur Rehman, MNA Ijazul Haq, Senator Sherry Rehman, former ambassador Masood Khan, representative Jamaat-e-Islami Sameeha Raheel, renowned journalist Hamid Mir, APHC leaders and others spoke on the occasion.

Every year the Accession to Pakistan Day is celebrated by the Kashmiris living on both sides of the LoC and Pakistan. Kashmir issue has also become a flashpoint for the international community. – APP

Reuters adds: Indian soldiers fired on a stone-throwing crowd defying a curfew in the occupied Kashmir region, killing three people, police said on Tuesday, as unrest sparked by the death of a commander flared.

Authorities have imposed a curfew in Muslim-majority Kashmir for 11 days, blocked mobile phones and briefly ordered curbs on newspapers to stop people from gathering and to control the worst outbreak of violence there in six years.

Late on Monday, protesters blocked a main road and threw stones at an army convoy. “Some miscreants then tried to snatch weapons from the army and tried to set vehicles on fire,” a police spokesman said on Tuesday. The army opened fire after the protesters refused to heed warnings and two women were killed, the spokesman said.

A third person died in hospital on Tuesday, taking the death toll to 48 since protests erupted over the killing of Commander Burhan Wani on July 9.About 3,500 people have been hurt; many with eye injuries caused by pellets Indian forces have been firing from a non-lethal weapon. The injuries have fuelled anger.