Protest on 1,000 days of military siege in IIOJ&K

MUZAFFARABAD: A protest rally was on Saturday organized by the Pasban-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir as the military siege in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir exceeded 1,000 days.

A large number of people gathered outside the old secretariat against the cruel measures of the Indian government taken in IIOJ&K on August 5, 2019. They marched on the main highway towards Burhan Wani Shaheed Chowk. They were holding banners questioning the silence of the United Nations on the continuous military siege of IIOJ&K and carrying placards demanding a referendum in the occupied valley. They chanted slogans against Indian atrocities and heinous war crimes in IIOJ&K.

Addressing the rally, speakers said the ruthless BJP government has divided the state of Jammu and Kashmir and tried to erase the state’s identity. They stated that the military siege of 1.5 crore people by 900,000 troops has converted the entire occupied state into a prison. They said international human rights organizations and the United Nations are playing the role of silent spectators on India’s state terrorism. “As many as 561 youngsters have been martyred since August 5, 2019 in military attacks on unarmed Kashmiri people while thousands of Kashmiri citizens have been imprisoned in notorious Indian jails where they are being subjected to the worst forms of torture,” they lamented.

They said Indian troops have destroyed hundreds of homes and turned many settlements into ashes. Moreover, India has pushed back the economy of Jammu and Kashmir under the guise of military siege and corona. They drew the attention of international organizations to Kashmir and said Modi’s brutality has deprived Kashmiri citizens of their political, social, religious and basic human rights. “In these circumstances, it is the responsibility of the UN and other human rights organizations to deter the Indian government from engaging in terrorist activities,” they said and called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to play a role in addressing the threats to the state’s Muslim identity.

Uzair Ahmad Ghazali, Mushtaq-ul-Islam, Shaukat Javed Mir, Usman Ali Hashim, Javed Ahmed Mughal, Chaudhry Shahbaz, Dr Manzoor, Faisal Farooq, Aimal Farzam, Muhammad Fayyaz and others addressed the rally.