Kashmiris observe India's Independence Day as Black Day
Kashmiris on both sides of LoC are observing Indian Independence Day as Black Day.
SRINAGAR (Dunya News) - Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) and the world over are observing the Indian Independence Day today (Saturday) as Black Day to convey the message to the international community that India continues to deny them their inalienable right to self-determination.
The day was marked with a complete shutdown in the Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir on the call given by the veteran Hurriyat leader, Syed Ali Gilani, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, the Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led Hurriyat forum and supported by almost all Hurriyat leaders and organizations.
The Kashmiris across the world are holding anti-India demonstration in front of Indian embassies to draw the world attention towards the Indian brutalities in the occupied territory.
The veteran Hurriyat leader, Syed Ali Gilani, in a message referring to India’s illegal occupation over Jammu and Kashmir said that a nation that resorts to usurpation and deprives others of their freedoms, loses every right to celebrate its freedom. He asked people to observe complete shutdown on August 15 to keep alive the tradition of observing India’s Independence Day as a Black Day.
The APHC spokesman in a statement issued in Srinagar said that India had no moral right to observe its Independence Day as it had held people and land of Kashmir illegally for the last 73 years through military might. He deplored that all basic human rights and civil liberties had been ruthlessly snatched and violated by India in the occupied territory.
The spokesman said history bears testimony to the fact that Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir is highest militarised place on the earth where more than one million Indian troops have been unleashed to terrorize and punish the whole population for demanding their right to self determination. For last one year the occupied territory has been turned into an open concentration camp where people have been subjected to unbelievable trauma and state terrorism, he deplored.
He appealed to the people of Kashmir to observe complete shutdown on the Indian Independence Day to convey a strong message to New Delhi and the world that the people of Kashmir reject its illegal and illegitimate occupation of their land and will continue their struggle to achieve their right to self-determination.
Hurriyat forum led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in its statement in Srinagar said the Kashmiris would observe India’s Independence Day as Black Day to convey the message to the international community that New Delhi has usurped their inalienable right to self-determination by the dint of force. The forum pointed out that India’s unlawful 5th August action was against international law, UN charter and the 4th Geneva Convention.
The Jammu and Kashmir National Front has also appealed to the people to observe Indian Independence Day as Black Day.
Other Hurriyat leaders and organizations in their statements said that India had no moral and constitutional right to observe its Independence Day as it continued to deny the Kashmiris their right to self-determination for the past over seven decades.
Hundreds of posters released by Warseen-e-Shuhada Jammu and Kashmir and Tehreek-e-Azadi Jammu and Kashmir across the occupied territory have asked the people to observe India’s Independence Day as Black Day. The posters, pasted on walls, pillars and poles in Srinagar, Badgam, Islamabad, Pulwama and other areas of the occupied territory, read slogans like "15th August – Black Day", "We Want Freedom" and "Go India go back".
