India has no legal, moral right to celebrate Independence Day in IIOJK: APHC
Srinagar: Pro-freedom leaders and organizations in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) have said that India has illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir against the wishes of its people and, therefore, has no legal or moral right to celebrate its Independence Day in the occupied territory.
According to Kashmir Media Service, All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) spokesperson Advocate Abdul Rashid Minhas, in a statement in Srinagar, said Kashmiris observe India’s Independence Day as a Black Day every year to protest India’s forced occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.
He said that 79 years ago, India ignored the wishes and aspirations of the Kashmiri people and occupied a large part of Jammu and Kashmir through military force. Since then, he added, India has subjected Kashmiris to brutal repression for demanding their UN-recognized right to self-determination.
He said India was celebrating its own freedom while subjecting Kashmiris to repression for demanding the same right. He described India as an occupying and aggressor state, saying that it maintained control over Jammu and Kashmir solely through military force and deprived Kashmiris of their fundamental rights in an attempt to silence their voice.
The APHC spokesperson further said the Modi government dealt another grave blow to Kashmir in August 2019 by revoking its special constitutional status, which, he said, was aimed at turning the Muslim majority of the territory into a minority. He said Kashmiris remained committed to taking forward the mission of their martyrs to its logical conclusion and would not hesitate to make any sacrifice for the sacred cause.
He said accession to Pakistan remained a longstanding aspiration of the Kashmiri people and expressed confidence that it would one day be fulfilled.
Meanwhile, jailed Hurriyat leaders Bilal Ahmad Siddiqui, Molvi Bashir Ahmad Irfani, Fayyaz Hussain Jafri and Ghulam Muhammad Khan Sopori, along with Hafiza Bano, Yasmeen Raja, Maulana Musab Nadvi, Abdul Samad Inqalabi, Sibte Shabbir Qumi and Advocate Arshad Iqbal, in their separate statements, also described India’s Independence Day as a Black Day for Kashmiris.
They said Jammu and Kashmir was an internationally recognized disputed territory and that the United Nations had adopted several resolutions affirming the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination. They said India could not mislead the international community by repeatedly claiming that Jammu and Kashmir was an “integral part” of India.
The Hurriyat leaders said India could not claim to be a democratic country while acting as an occupying and aggressor state and subjecting Kashmiris to severe repression for demanding their right to self-determination.
They said freedom-loving Kashmiris were courageously resisting Indian repression and remained determined to take the mission of their martyrs to its logical conclusion.
