ISLAMABAD (APP) – People of Pakistan, Azad Jammu Kashmir and Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) are marking ‘Kashmir Black Day’ – 27 October 2024, on Sunday (today) against India for forcibly taking control of the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
Kashmir Black Day is commemorated annually on October 27 to mark the day in 1947 when India, without any legal justification, forcibly took control of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The day serves as a reminder of United Nations resolutions regarding the Kashmir dispute.
To show solidarity with the people of Indian Held Kashmir on Kashmir Black Day - 27 October 2024, President Asif Ali Zardari has called upon the international community to exert pressure on New Delhi to halt its ongoing human rights abuses in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), alleviate the suffering of Kashmiris, and implement UN Security Council resolutions.
“Pakistan will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with its Kashmiri brothers and sisters until they achieve their inalienable right to self-determination,” the president said in a message on the occasion of “Kashmir Black Day”, 27 October 2024.
The president said October 27, 1947, marked a dark chapter in South Asian history when India sent troops to occupy Jammu and Kashmir. For decades, the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) have endured brutal repression by Indian forces.
Over the years, he said India had transformed IIOJK into one of the most militarised regions in the world. Thousands of innocent Kashmiris have been killed, while their legitimate leaders remain imprisoned, and local media is heavily censored.
Furthermore, the president emphasized that the United Nations Security Council had repeatedly affirmed the right of the Kashmiri people to self-determination through a fair and impartial plebiscite.
Yet, he said India continued to defy these resolutions and deny Kashmiris their fundamental rights. “Since August 5, 2019, India has further escalated its occupation by stripping IIOJK of its special status and implementing measures to alter its demographic and political landscape. These actions are part of a broader strategy to consolidate control and suppress the Kashmiri Freedom Movement.”
He said despite these oppressive tactics, the resilient people of Kashmir remained steadfast in their struggle for freedom. “We strongly condemn India’s ongoing atrocities and reaffirm our unwavering moral, diplomatic, and political support for the Kashmiri people’s just cause”, he added.
To express solidarity with the people of Held Kashmir on Kashmir Black Day, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said Pakistan had always expressed its unwavering solidarity with Kashmiri brothers and sisters and it will continue to extend its full moral, diplomatic and political support to them until the final resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
In his message on the occasion of ‘Kashmir Black Day’ – 27 October 2024, the prime minister said on this day 77 years ago, Indian forces landed in Srinagar.
India has since stifled the legitimate aspirations of the Kashmiri people to determine their own destiny.
It has failed to fulfill its obligations under the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
He said the people of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) had suffered countless hardships during the last seventy-seven years.
However, their resolve to realize their inalienable right to self-determination remains as firm as it was in 1947.
The prime minister said India had been taking successive steps to tighten its grip over IIOJK since 5 August 2019. India’s nefarious designs are aimed at undermining the disputed status of IIOJK and denying the Kashmiri people their democratic right to decide their own future.
Today, he said the Kashmiri people were enduring the most egregious and painful curbs on their daily lives and livelihoods.
He said the number of political prisoners remains in the thousands and the Indian occupation forces act with impunity under draconian counterterrorism laws.