India an invader, has no right to celebrate I-Day: AJK president

MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has said that India, which invaded Kashmir on October 27, 1947, and made Kashmiris slave just 72 days after gaining independence from British colonial rule, has no right to celebrate Independence Day.

In a special message on the black day, being observed by the Kashmiri people on the occasion of India's Independence Day, he said the people of Jammu and Kashmir consider the Indian colonial system as evil as they considered the British colonial rule and the Dogra dictatorship, based on tyranny and barbarism.

The state president said the Kashmiri people would not take rest until and unless they get freedom from Indian slavery and decide their political destiny with free will. The Kashmiri people, he added, had not accepted the Indian occupation even for a day during the last 74 years, and their struggle would continue till they are provided an opportunity to exercise their right to self-determination, as per their wishes and aspirations.

The AJK president, while condemning the Indian government for forcing students of schools and colleges as well as the government employees in occupied Kashmir to participate in the Independence Day celebrations, said that independent nations never compel people at gunpoint to celebrate the day of their independence.

Sardar Masood Khan said that people in both parts of Kashmir enthusiastically celebrating the independence day of Pakistan have proved their commitment to Pakistan.

"The day India withdraws its 900,000 army from Kashmir and rolls back the oppressive system there, the Indian rulers themselves will witness how many Kashmiri people celebrate the Independence Day of India and how many others celebrate the Independence Day of Pakistan," he challenged.

The state president called upon the United Nations to implement its resolutions and help the people of Jammu and Kashmir get their right to self-determination in order to resolve the long outstanding Kashmir issue, and to reduce the dangers posed to the peace and security of South Asia.

Highlighting the situation in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Khan said since August 5, 2019, when India once again invaded, reoccupied, and annexed the occupied territory to bring it under its direct control, the over eight million people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir are under brutal siege. The 900,000 troops deployed in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) are operating with impunity and terrorising the entire population of the occupied territory.

During this period, he said, the people have been subjected to brute force and violence. In addition to the arrest of political leadership, thousands of children have also been arrested and being tortured in the concentration camps.