Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The detained vice Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Shabbir Ahmad Shah in IIOJK has reiterated the APHC call to observe India’s Republic Day as a Black Day on Wednesday (tomorrow) as a mark of protest against the illegal occupation of Kashmiris’ motherland by India.

According to Kashmir Media Service, in a message from Dehli’s notorious Tihar jail, he asked for maintaining civil curfew in the territory.

Suffering from multiple ailments without any proper medical treatment, the APHC vice Chairman said the people of Kashmir have time and again rejected the Indian forcible occupation by using every peaceful means of resistance, protests and public demonstrations.

Millions of people thronged the roads, streets and plains, raising slogans for freedom and right to self-determination, said the statement.

The incarcerated leader paid glowing tributes to the martyrs of Handwara who were murdered in cold blood when Indian occupation forces showered bullets indiscriminately on a public gathering, peacefully demanding their inalienable right to self-determination.

Nearly 28 people were ruthlessly killed on spot and scores others were critically injured. He appealed the people to commemorate the martyrs of Handwara and observe complete shutdown on 25th of January in Kupwara district and organize special prayer meetings for the heroes of freedom.

Shabbir Shah while condemning the unabated genocide and extrajudicial killings in Kashmir at the hands of Indian occupation forces said it has become a routine matter that on every Indian Republic Day, the people of Kashmir have to face the hurricanes of the Indian tyranny and brutality.

“People are haunted, terrorized intimidated, tortured and humiliated on one pretext or the other and their life is made miserable with every single movement,” he added. Forcibly waving the Indian flag cannot hide and deter the freedom sentiments of the people of Kashmir, affirmed the Hurriyat leader.

Terming Kashmir a political issue, he said that India is mistaken if it thinks of suppressing the resistance movement of Kashmir by using military power.

All its oppressive measures have failed to change the Kashmir narrative, so it is in the interests of all the stakeholders of the Kashmir dispute to allow a free and fair plebiscite in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Meanwhile, APHC leader Mir Shahid Saleem has also paid glowing tributes to the victims of Gawkadal, Hindwara, Kupwara and other massacres which were carried out in the month of January by Indian troops in different years.

Speaking at a meeting in Jammu Mir Shahid Saleem said January was the bloodiest month in which several hundred people were murdered in the different years by the Indian forces. He said the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been subjected to the worst kind of human rights violations at the hands of security forces during the past 35 years.

APHC AJK leaders Abdul Majeed Malik, Qazi Imran and Khalid Shabbir in their joint statement in Islamabad memorized the sacrifices of mujahid commander Haji Azam, Commander Gulzar and Abu Baseer on their 20th martyrdom anniversary. They were martyred by Indian troops on January 24, 2002 in Surankot area.

APHC AJK leader Uzair Ahmad Ghazali in a statement in Muzaffarabad denounced Indian brutalities in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.