Kashmiris to hold march towards UN office after Jummah prayers tomorrow

APHC leader urged the world community to break silence over Indian atrocities and bring it to end.

SRINAGAR (Web Desk) – People of Kashmir decided to hold a march towards the United Nations office at Sonawar in Srinagar after the Jummah prayers on August 23, to defy the curfew and illegal lockdown imposed by the Indian authorities over the occupied Kashmir.

According to the Kashmir Media Service, call for the march has been given by the Resistance leaders through posters appearing in Srinagar and other parts of the valley. The leaders have urged every young, old, men and women to join the march to convey to India and the world that the Kashmiris would not accept Indian occupation over their territory and Hindu culture. The march is also aimed at resisting the Indian attempt to change the demography of Kashmir through settlement of the outsiders in the territory. The clerics will raise the issue during their Friday sermons.

Meanwhile, curfew and communication blackout entered the 18th consecutive day, today, further worsening the miseries of the besieged population across the territory. Vehicular as well as pedestrian movement remains blocked with barricades and concertina wires on roads and streets guarded by thousands of Indian troops. However, youth defied curfew and other restrictions came out at various places and protested against the abrogation of Article 370. Scores of people were injured when troops fired bullets, pellets and teargas shells on protesters in Srinagar and other areas of the valley.

The authorities also continue to impose information blockade as TV channels and internet links are snapped and restrictions on media continue since August 5 when BJP’s government scrapped the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Schools in the Kashmir Valley continue to give an empty look as parents have refused to risk the lives of their children.

The Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement Chairman, Mir Shahid Saleem in a statement issued in Jammu warned the world community of an unfolding humanitarian crisis in the territory.

Kashmir facing massive humanitarian crisis: JKPM Chairman

In occupied Kashmir, the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement (JKPM) has warned that a massive humanitarian crisis is fast approaching if the world community continues to maintain criminal silence on the continued lockdown in the territory, as per KMS reported.

Leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and the JKPM Chairman, Mir Shahid Saleem in a statement issued in Jammu said that apart from entire population of the Kashmir valley more than two million people of the Chenab Valley and Pirpanchal region of the Jammu division had been put under the strict curfew without any communication with rest of the world.

He said, nine million people of the territory have no communication within the territory and rest of the world. He said that by not being able to know about the well-being of their near and dear, people in the occupied territory were feeling a great deal of anxiety and frustration. He said that the entire population under the occupation was living in a psychological crisis.

The JKPM chairman said that the communal government of India divided the territory along communal lines, while there was no curfew, restrictions on movement and communications in the districts with a particular religious population, while, on the other hand, Muslim-dominated districts were being subjected to a collective punishment.

He urged the world community to break its silence and bring the siege and the lockdown of the Kashmir to an end.