Rallies condemn Indian atrocities against Kashmiris

The participants of a train march and rallies staged in Karachi to mark August 5 as Yaum-e-Istehsal Kashmir condemned India’s military lockdown and atrocities against the besieged Kashmiri people of occupied Kashmir over the past year.

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail inaugurated a train march from Karachi to Rohri at the Cantt Station. It was organised by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Sindh chapter to mark August 5 as Kashmir Exploitation Day.

PTI parliamentary leader in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh led the train march, while PTI assembly members and leaders, including MPAs Abbas Jaffery, Dua Bhutto, Hunaid Lakhani, Sameer Mir Shaikh and Ali Ahmed Junejo, were also present on the occasion.

Sheikh said Kashmir was the integral part of Pakistan and every Pakistani stood shoulder by shoulder with the Kashmiris. “Indian Hitler Modi has crossed all limits in violation of human rights in the occupied Kashmir and his government will end soon.”

Sheikh said that like elsewhere in the country, the residents observed Yaum-e-Istehsal in every city and town. “Occupied Kashmir has been included in the map of Pakistan. Prime Minister Imran Khan has successfully raised the Kashmir issue and soon the Pakistani flag would be waived in the occupied Kashmir.”

He asked all political parties to come onto one page for the cause of Kashmir. He said Indian-occupied Kashmir had been braving the lockdown and a media clampdown for one year. He said India’s occupation army was busy in carrying out a genocide of the Kashmiri people.

World Kashmir Forum

The governor said that the new map of Pakistan was not a political stunt but a reality, adding, “I am happy that Modi is in India. He himself is tearing his country into pieces.” He was addressing an Azadi-e-Kashmir Rally at Sea View held under the World Kashmir Forum (WKF).

The procession, led by WKF Chairman Haji Rafiq Pardesi, was attended by Dr Farooq Sattar, WKF general secretary and former attorney general of Pakistan Anwar Mansoor Khan, Joint Secretary Rashid Alam, Secretary Finance Muhammad Rafiq Suleiman, Rasheed Godil, Engineer Sarwat Ijaz, PML-Nawaz Sindh President Mohammad Tariq Hassan and various other prominent personalities, joined by thousands of residents. The demonstration started from McDonald’s and culminated at the Nishan-e- Pakistan.

The governor stressed that now the world should open its eyes and assess the condition of the Kashmiris as they had experienced how difficult it was to go through Covid-19 isolation times.

He wondered why people working for human rights organisations were silent about the plight of the Kashmiris, and said though it was very difficult to get attention from Geneva, Haji Rafiq Pardesi had taken up this uphill task.

WKF Chairman Haji Rafiq Pardesi said that he would take a petition against atrocities by India’s occupation forces on Kashmiris to the Human Rights Council in Geneva. “For the first time, the people of Pakistan are taking this petition,” he said and appealed to the people to sign it in large numbers so that it got noticed.

CM addresses rally

Atrocities against the people of Kashmir are as old as the Pakistan movement, said Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah while addressing a Kashmir Solidarity Rally at Karachi's Sea View on Wednesday.

Just when the movement for the creation of Pakistan was in full swing, atrocities against the Muslims of Kashmir were unleashed and therefore Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had raised the issue of the brutalities against the people of Kashmir when elections were held in 1946, he said.

“This shows that people of Kashmir being Muslims were unacceptable to the extremist Hindus,” he added.

In the instrument of independence, it was decided that the Muslim majority areas would accede to Pakistan but contrary to the agreement the Indian government landed their forces in the valley and occupied it, Murad said. “Since then the people of Kashmir have been struggling against the illegal occupation of Kashmir.”

He added that in 1948, the United Nations passed a resolution giving the right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir. The CM said Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto during his tenure as foreign minister and prime minister had delivered historical speeches in the General Assembly of the United Nations and had termed Kashmir as an integral part of Pakistan. “Mr Bhutto had said that we will fight for 1,000 years but would never withdraw our claim on Kashmir.”

Murad said ever since Modi had come into power, he had intensified the state-sponsored terrorism not only in Kashmir but also against the Muslims of India. “The curfew Modi imposed in the occupied Kashmir last year on August 5 has turned into the longest curfew in human history but it failed to weaken the spirit of the people of Kashmir.”

He continued: “We all, the politicians, the bureaucrats, the women and the children have gathered here in the rally to support our brothers and sisters in Kashmir and expose the Indian atrocities before the international community.”

He said the time was not far when the people of Kashmir would get freedom from India's brutalities. The rally was attended by Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, provincial ministers Saeed Ghani, Nasir Shah and Murtaza Wahab, Sindh Assembly opposition leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi, several MPAs, senior bureaucrats and civil society members.

PA slams India

In an especially convened session, the Sindh Assembly unanimously passed a resolution to condemn the illegitimate and oppressive Indian occupation of Kashmir and India's atrocities against the Kashmiri people.

The resolution was moved by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to express solidarity with the people of occupied Kashmir. It condemned the lockdown imposed by India since last year in Kashmir.

Speaking on the occasion, the CM said Kashmir was the jugular vein of Pakistan and the concept of Pakistan's independence remained incomplete without the inclusion of Kashmir.

He said Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had described all friends of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Pakistan’s traitor.

He said Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had emphasised that the Kashmiris should be given the chance to choose their destiny out of their free-will while Indian leader Jawaharlal Nehru had initially accepted this proposal. He said after the Quaid-e-Azam, PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had openly expressed his opinion on the Kashmir issue.

He appreciated Prime Minister Imran Khan for openly talking on the issue of Kashmir during his speech at the UN. The CM said it was the will of the Kashmiri people that they wanted to remain with Pakistan.

He said unity among Pakistanis would help the Kashmiri people to fulfil their aspirations. He said India had failed to achieve its wicked designs in the occupied Kashmir despite unleashing terror on the Kashmiri people.

Referring to Wednesday's cracker attack on the Kashmir solidarity rally of the Jamaat-e-Islami in Karachi, the CM said attempts to destabilise Karachi would never be successful. He condemned the attack on the JI’s rally, saying he had been gathering details of the incident.

The Sindh Assembly speaker said he was proud to be a member of the provincial legislature as “God willing Kashmir will soon become a part of Pakistan”. Lawmakers Khawaja Izharul Hassan, Jawed Hanif, Hasnain Mirza and Syed Abdul Rasheed were among other speakers.

Mayor’s statement

Mayor Karachi Wasim Akhtar on Wednesday said that Karachiites were protesting and condemning Indian atrocities in Jammu and Kashmir one year after the revocation of Kashmir's special status.

Akhtar said on August 5, 2019, India reversed the special status of India-occupied Kashmir by revoking article 370 and 35-A of the Indian constitution so it would be remembered as a black day. India had converted Kashmir into the world’s biggest jail by violating all international laws, according to a statement issued.

"Today, the people of Kashmir are denied fundamental rights but India should keep in mind that it cannot suppress the voice of Kashmiris by force. Kashmiris are struggling for the right to self-determination for seven decades and freedom is their destination."

The mayor said that the international community and organisations should step in and stop atrocities in Indian ocuupied Kashmir. He said that Kashmir was lifeline of Pakistan and we would continue raising the Kashmir dispute at every forum, adding that India's real face had been exposed and hopefully now the international community would pay attention towards the Kashmir issue.

"Pakistan and Kashmir are essential for each other and Pakistan would continue to support Kashmiris. Those days are not very far when the people of Kashmir would get freedom," Akhtar added.

MQM-P’s event

To express solidarity with the people of Kashmir, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) organised an event on Yaum-e-Istehsal where party leaders condemned human rights violations committed by the Indian forces in the held Jammu and Kashmir and called upon the international community to help Kashmiris exercise their right to self-determination.

The MQM-P organised the event in a park near the party’s temporary headquarters in Bahadurabad. MQM-P Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Deputy Convener Amir Khan, Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar, Arif Khan Advocate, Mehfooz Yar Khan and other leaders spoke to the gathering.

The MQM-P leaders said that the party stood by the eight million oppressed people of the occupied valley and the international community must end their criminal silence on Kashmir.

Siddiqui said that the revocation of the Article 370 of the Indian constitution was a well-planned conspiracy to end the special status of Kashmir. He said that the prolonged lockdown had caused a humanitarian crisis in the occupied valley.

PSP’s programme

Pak Sarzameen Party Chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal has said Kashmir and Pakistan are inseparable, Kashmiris are our brothers, their love and devotion to Pakistan is eternal.

“They chant slogans of Pakistan, they raise the Pakistani flag and lay to rest their martyrs wrapped in the Pakistani flag. The unending Indian atrocities on Kashmiris are due to their unequivocal association with Pakistan,” he said while speaking at a solidarity programme held at the Pakistan House on the occasion of Yaum-e-Istehsal in connection with India’s continuing barbarism against Kashmiris, and the completion of one year of the Modi government’s cruel decision of August 5, 2019, against the UN resolutions on Kashmir.

A large number of workers, including PSP President Anis Kaimkhani, and Central Executive Committee and National Council members were present on the occasion, said a press release issued by the party’s Central Information Department.

Kamal said: “We must realise the plight of Kashmiri brothers and sisters, and practical steps need to be taken in this regard. The PSP is a frontline political party engaged in the defence of Pakistan.

“We have willingly placed our lives in the defence the country. We have fought the battle of Kashmir in Karachi, we have not been fighting with any political party in Karachi, the economic lifeline of Pakistan, but we have fought with India.”

Whenever the independence movement gained momentum in occupied Kashmir, RAW agents in Karachi carried out acts of terrorism, Kamal added. “On March 3, 2016, when we risked our lives and our families for the sake of Pakistan and came back to homeland and told the nation that Altaf Hussain is an agent of the Indian intelligence agency, RAW, some people accepted our words while other disagreed. Today, four years later, M. Anwar while sitting in London admitted that he was receiving money from RAW on the command of Altaf Hussain and thereby delivering it to MQM chief. Our Lord has proved our every word true what we have been saying for the past four years.”

He further recalled: “On August 5, 2019, when India legitimised its illegal tyranny over Kashmir, the PSP was the first political party whose top leadership reached Azad Kashmir from Karachi to express solidarity with the Kashmiris.

“The PSP will fully support every positive step taken by the Government of Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue, and the entire Pakistani nation, especially the Karachiites, will stand shoulder to shoulder with the Kashmiri people till their last breath.”

Kamal alleged that the PPP’s corrupt, nepotistic, prejudiced and incompetent government in Sindh was working against the people of the province and against the interest of Pakistan. “Today’s government is diminishing the love and respect of Pakistan from the hearts of people. The provincial government’s style of governance is providing a base for the both external and internal enemies of Pakistan, especially India, to ignite fire in the Sindh province.”