Mirwaiz says 5 August decision disempowered IIOJK people
India attacked identity of Kashmiri people: Hurriyat leader
Srinagar : Senior APHC leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has said that August 5 is a painful reminder of the day when a decision was imposed upon occupied Jammu and Kashmir by the Indian government, unilaterally altering its structure and status.
According to Kashmir Media Service, in a statement issued in Srinagar on the seventh anniversary of India’s illegal revocation of Articles 370 and 35A, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said this multi-pronged assault on the identity, character and rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir has left yet another deep wound on their body politic.
“Yet, the courage and resilience of the people of this land in safeguarding it and standing up for their rights has always been exemplary,” he said. He expressed hope that a day will come when India will honour the spirit of Insaniyat and Jamhooriyat, and engage with the people of Kashmir with justice, sincerity and respect.
Meanwhile, APHC leaders Fayaz Hussain Jafri and Maulana Syed Sibte Shabbir Qumi, in their statements in Srinagar, said that India, which holds a large part of Jammu and Kashmir by military force, attacked the identity of Kashmiris on August 5, 2019 and tried to make them strangers in their own homeland. They said the Hindutva BJP government, seven years ago, abrogated Articles 370 and 35A, ended the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and divided it, pursuing ulterior motives behind the move.
The APHC leaders said that immediately after the illegal action of August 5, India changed the domicile laws in the occupied territory and during the past seven years granted citizenship to hundreds of thousands of Indian Hindus, rapidly implementing its nefarious plan to reduce the Muslim majority to a minority. They said that despite India’s brutal killing spree, mass arrests and other repressive tactics, India has failed to suppress the spirit of freedom among Kashmiris. They added that Kashmiris observe August 5 every year as “Black Day” to send a clear message to India that nothing is acceptable to them except freedom from its occupation.
