In support of Kashmiris Pakistan observes Yaum-e-Istehsal today

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will observe the Yaum-e-Istehsal today (August 5) to mark the third year of Indian military siege of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K) and denounce illegal, immoral and unconstitutional step to strip its special status.

The whole nation will give a message to their Kashmiri brethren that the people of Pakistan will always stand by them in their just struggle for independence and against the atrocities committed by Indian forces. Kashmiri people on both sides of the Line of Control and all over the world will also observe the Yaum-e-Istehsal to condemn the unconstitutional step taken by India on August 5, 2019. One minute silence will be observed across the country and traffic will be halted for one minute and sirens will be played. Posters and billboards have been displayed to highlight the plight of Kashmiri people. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released the teaser of song Jalta Hai Kashmir, which will be aired today. On August 5, 2019, the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party government had struck down Articles 370 and 35-A of the Indian constitution, thereby scrapping the law that granted Kashmir its special status.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said the just struggle of the people of IIOJ&K to realize their right to self-determination, guaranteed under several resolutions of the UN Security Council, was being suppressed through brutal force by Indian occupation forces.

He said it was the indomitable will and courage of Kashmiris that enabled them to withstand every Indian attempt to terrorize and subjugate them. He said the IIOJ&K dispute had been on the United Nations’ agenda for over seven decades. He said the Indian government, under the hold of the BJP-RSS combine, was unabashedly pushing its ‘Hindutva’ agenda to alter the demographic structure of IIOJ&K.

The PM said India’s settler-colonialism mindset was driven by its quest to permanently occupy the disputed territory and obliterate its distinct Kashmiri identity.PPP Chairman and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said the nation will not sit idle unless the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir win freedom.

“India has cunningly changed Articles 370 and 35-A of its constitution and thus messed with UN resolutions on IIOJ&K. It has played with the regional peace and stability, which can’t be ignored,” he said in a statement on the eve of the Yaum-e-Istehsal. He said that in the last three years after the change in Kashmir status, Kashmiris had been deprived of basic human rights including the freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.