Unlawful occupation of Jammu and Kashmir: All set to observe Black Day today

ISLAMABAD: The people of Pakistan and Jammu & Kashmir living on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) and rest of the world will observe the Black Day today (Tuesday) to mark a strong protest against unlawful occupation of Jammu and Kashmir for the last 73 years.

According to director, Rawalpindi Arts Council (RAC) Waqar Ahmed, the Pakistani and Kashmiri people will observe Oct 27 as Black Day in the history when India had landed its armed troops in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir against aspirations and wishes of the Kashmiri people.

The day is observed every year to mark extreme resentment over the continued unlawful and forcible occupation of Jammu and Kashmir by the Indian armed forces.

He informed that on August 5, 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government struck down articles 370 and 35-A of the Indian Constitution, scrapping the law that granted Kashmir a special status.

To mark the “Black Day”, the Rawalpindi Arts Council (RAC) was organising various programmes to highlight the Indian atrocities and human rights abuses in Indian occupied Kashmir.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan in his message on the Kashmir Black Day being observed today (Tuesday) said “we are observing this day to condemn Indian illegal occupation and to reiterate our unwavering support to the Kashmiri people”. “The Kashmir Black Day represents a dark chapter in the human history when, 73 years ago, Indian forces landed in Srinagar to forcibly occupy the territory and subjugate people of Jammu and Kashmir. The illegal occupation of parts of Jammu and Kashmir by India represents an international dispute, the solution of which is firmly anchored in the relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions in accordance with the UN charter,” he said.

The premier said, “for its part, Pakistan will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Kashmiri people and extend all possible support to them until they realise their legitimate right to self-determination”.

“Despite unabated Indian atrocities for more than seven decades posing an existential threat, India is unable to break the will of the Kashmiri people. International community bears witness that Indian state-terrorism, extra-judicial killing of innocent Kashmiris, unprecedented restrictions in freedom of speech, fake encounters, cordon-and-search operations, custodial torture and deaths, enforced disappearances, incarceration of Kashmiri leadership and youth, use of pellet guns, destruction and burning of houses to inflict ‘collective punishment’ on the Kashmiris communities and other methods of subjugation have failed to shake the resolve of the Kashmiri people in their just struggle for the inalienable right to self-determination,” he noted.