CM Murad Ali Shah calls for ‘dragging butcher of Gujarat’ to ICJ for killing Kashmiris

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said “the butcher of Gujarat” has unleashed genocide in Indian-held Kashmir; therefore, a case of war crime should be filed against him in the International Court of Justice.

This he said while addressing a rally taken out from Kashmir Road to the Mazar-e-Quaid on Wednesday to express solidarity with the people of Kashmir. The Sindh government organised the rally, which was attended by Governor Imran Ismail, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, almost all provincial ministers, advisers, special assistants, secretaries and senior police officers.

The chief minister said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the butcher of Gujarat, had unleashed a wave of terror against the Muslims of India, and particularly he had launched genocide in occupied Kashmir. “Your hands are stained with the blood of innocent Kashmiris and one day you will have to face cases of war crimes in the International Court of Justice,” he said.

Quoting one of the speeches of the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Shah said that he (Bhutto) had said: “Being a human being I can commit mistakes but in the matter of Kashmir talks I cannot commit any mistake.”

He added that the “leadership of his party has been, is and will remain committed to the cause of Kashmir”. “Today, everyone in Pakistan raises the slogan -- Kashmir banega Pakistan [Kashmir will become part of Pakistan],” he said and vowed that the people of Pakistan would continue their struggle for the liberation of Kashmir from the Indian clutches.

Shah urged the international community, human rights watchdogs and everyone feeling the pain of the people of Kashmir to raise voice for them and wake up the international community from the slumber to liberate Kashmir from India’s occupation.

The governor also spoke on the occasion and expressed solidarity with the people of Kashmir. Earlier, the chief minister and the governor led the Kashmir solidarity rally from Kashmir Road to the Mazar-e-Quaid. A large number of people also participated in the rally and had flags of Kashmir in their hands.

During the rally, songs of solidarity with the people of Kashmir were played and a special band kept performing right from the start of the rally to the Mazari-Quaid.

Ismail censures India

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail has said that India has turned the occupied Kashmir into the world’s largest human jail as the Kashmiri people there have been confined to their homes since August last year owing to a prolonged curfew.

He stated this as he participated in two rallies carried out in the city to express solidarity with the people of Kashmir. The rally from Kashmir Road to the Mazar-e-Qauid was organised by the Sindh government while that at Nishan-e-Pakistan Sea View was organised by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

The governor said Prime Minister Imran Khan had been effectively pleading the case of the oppressed Kashmiri people before the comity of nations. He said that the PM in this manner had been acting as an ambassador for the oppressed Kashmiri people.

He said that the integrity of India had suffered a major setback as a result of the move of the Indian government to end the special constitutional status of the occupied Kashmir.

Ismail said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi by scrapping Article 370 of the Indian constitution had laid the very foundation of the disintegration of India itself.

He said the entire Pakistani nation stood united for the cause of Kashmir as every Pakistani considered Kashmir as an integral part of their country. He said Kashmir would become a part of Pakistan in view of the overwhelming sentiments of the Kashmiri people.

The governor said that the date of February 5 bore much importance as that was the day when the concerned quarters in the rest of the world were informed about oppression being committed against people in the occupied Kashmir.

The rally at Sea View was also attended by Leader of Opposition in Sindh Assembly Firdous Shamim Naqvi, PTI lawmakers Khurrum Sher Zaman, Jamal Siddiqui and Raja Azhar, and others.

The participants of the rally said that India ultimately had to give the right to self-determination to the Kashmiri people as being one of their fundamental rights. They said that the aspirations of the Kashmiri people had been high despite terrorism and oppression continuously being committed against them.

The PTI leaders said that India despite decades-long oppression and tyrannical rule had failed to suppress the voice of the Kashmiri people.

They said rallies in support of the Kashmiri people had been carried out in every town of Sindh as every resident of the province regardless of his or her political affiliation stood united with the Kashmiri people doing struggle for their liberation.

Political parties’ rallies

Various political parties, religious groups and civil society organisations took to the street across Karachi to mark Kashmir Solidarity Day, expressing solidarity with the oppressed people of the Indian-Occupied Kashmir and condemning the Indian government’s move to abrogate the special status of Kashmir.

Although such rallies and protests were held in the city’s various areas, most of the events were organised outside the Karachi Press Club where since the morning, a large number of people took part in the protests to condemn the brutalities of the Indian security forces in the occupied region.

The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi chapter organised a 20-kilometre-long chain of human hands on Sharea Faisal to show solidarity with the Kashmiri people and their struggle.

A large number of the JI workers and Karachi residents took part to form the chain of human hands that started in Quaidabad and ended at Metropole. JI chief and senator Sirajul Haq arrived in Karachi especially to take part in forming the human chain.

JI Karachi Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman and other leaders, including Osama Razi, also spoke to the protesting participants. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) organised the ‘Kashmir Solidarity Conference’ at a local hall in the Bahadurabad area where the party leaders in their speeches condemned the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Indian government to abrogate the special status of the occupied Kashmir.

MQM-P Convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqi said his party considered the freedom of Pakistan incomplete without the freedom of occupied Kashmir. He saluted the Kashmiri people for standing up against the atrocities and said the people of Pakistan were with them.

Other MQM-P leaders, including Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar and Sardar Sagheer, demanded of the United Nations and the international community to keep their promise and resolve the longstanding Kashmir dispute as per the aspirations of the people of Kashmir.

They called upon the nation to come out to show solidarity with the people of the occupied territory and said Pakistanis needed to speak up for the brighter future of Kashmiris.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf also organised a rally that started from the Insaf House, the party secretariat, on Sharea Faisal and ended at Sea View.

The Sindh governor also took part in the rally which was attended by many PTI leaders, including Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly Firdous Shamim Naqvi, PTI Karachi President and MPA Khurrum Sher Zaman, Jamal Siddiqi, Hunaid Lakhani and MPA Raja Azhar.

Condemning the Indian atrocities in the occupied Kashmir, the PTI leaders demanded the implementation of the UN resolutions on the Kashmir dispute.

“We demand the implementation of the UN resolution, which gives rights to Kashmiri people to self-determination,” Naqvi said. The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl Sindh chapter also organised a rally on University Road to show solidarity with the Kashmiri people and their struggle for freedom.

JUI-F Sindh Secretary General Rashid Mehmood Soomro, Muhammad Aslam Ghouri, Maulana Abdul Karim Abidi, Maulana Naseerudin Swati and other leaders spoke to the rally’s participants.

The JUI-F leaders said Pakistan would always stand with the Kashmiris. They also condemned the Indian army's aggression in the region and said freedom was the basic right of the oppressed Kashmiri people who would get it soon by bearing the fruit of sacrifices of thousands of the Kashmiri people.

The Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) also held a demonstration outside Mehfil Shah Khurasan Road to raise their concerns over the Indian brutalities in the occupied Kashmir.

MWM Sindh leader Nasir al-Hussaini, religious scholar Allama Manzarul Haq Thanvi, Pakistan Awami Tehreek’s Sahibzada Saqib Nawashi, All Pakistan Sunni Tehreek’s Matloob Awan and other leaders also took part in the protest.

The speakers said durable peace could never be achieved in Asia without the resolution of the Kashmir issue. The Pakistan Sunni Tehreek (PST) also held a rally from the Alam Shah Bukhari shrine in Jama Cloth Market to the press club to decry the Indian aggression. PST chief Sarwat Ejaz Qadri said the entire nation was united against the Indian designs for not granting the right to self-determination to the Kashmiris.

Rights dept rally

A walk was organised by the Sindh Human Rights Department on Wednesday to show solidarity with the people of Kashmir, who have been experiencing atrocities at the hands of Indian forces.

The rally started at 3pm from the office of Veerji Kolhi, special assistant to chief minister for human rights, and ended at the Karachi Press Club.

Veerji Kolhi, Senator Krishna kumari, secretary of the Human Rights Department, director of human rights and other people from different fields and departments attended the rally.

Veerji Kolhi addressed the rally and criticised the Indian brutalities and highhandedness in Kashmir, saying that there was massive violations of human rights in Kashmir, but the UN was not taking any action.

He urged the UN to come forward and play its role to stop the Indian aggression in Kashmir. He also said that the silence of the international media on Kashmir was questionable, especially when there was a continuous curfew and torture on innocence Kashmiris.

Senator Krishna Kumari and the human rights secretary also addressed the rally and expressed solidarity with the Kashmiri people.