KARACHI: Hundreds of Karachiites on Wednesday formed a 20-km-long human chain to express solidarity with the people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir. It was organized by Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi to observe the Kashmir Solidarity Day. The JI Ameer Senator Sirajul Haq visited various points of the chain on Shahra-e-Faisal. The chain started from Avari Towers and culminated at Quaidabad. A large number of people, including women and children, from all walks of life, participated in the event. This year the solidarity day was observed when the entire population of Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir is practically under lockdown since August last year when the extremist Indian government revoked the special status for the territory in violation of international treaties. Although, the move drew international condemnation, no practical step was taken to force the Indian government to reverse the move.
Addressing the participants, the JI chief said that the human chain delivers a message to the global community that in order to avoid a nuclear war in the region and for durable peace, they would have to force the Indian government to provide the right to self-determination to the people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir. “The people are asking the United Nations to ensure plebiscite, under its own resolutions,” he said, adding that the people of occupied Kashmir have the right to freedom from the unjust occupation of India and to join Pakistan.
He said that the human chain also depicts the resolve of Pakistanis that they stand united in solidarity with their Kashmiri brethren against brutalities of the Indian security forces. Criticising the Government of Pakistan for the inability to take appropriate action for the liberation of occupied Kashmir, the JI chief said, “I want to tell the rulers of Pakistan that they have been delivering useless speeches for the last 72 years. Its time to take practical steps for the freedom of occupied Kashmir. We will have to opt for Jihad for the sake of the Kashmiri people and the liberation of Kashmir.”
Under the international laws, the JI chief said, the people of Kashmir have the right to struggle for their freedom from the illegal occupation of India. “For the past six months, Indian forces have turned occupied Kashmir into jail while the international community is playing the role of a silent spectator. The rulers are only delivering speeches and by doing so they think that they have done their job. Young people are being martyred in the occupied Kashmir, women are being raped, graveyards are expanding but the struggle for freedom is continuing with full swing. The Kashmiris bury their martyrs in the Pakistani flags and chant the slogan that Kashmir will become Pakistan.” He asked the government to shun the lame policy over Kashmir as the entire Pakistani nation is standing with the Kashmiri people.
JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman also asked the rulers to play their due role instead of delivering speeches. While citing the example of East Timor, he criticized the global community over its double standards.
Various other parties including Pakistan Sunni Tehreek, Majlise Wahdatul Muslimeen, Jafaria Alliance also held rallies and seminars to express solidarity with Kashmir.
