Senior APHC leader and Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) Shabbir Ahmed Shah has sought intervention of the world community to prevent the robbing of the people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir of their land, identity and integrity by the Modi-led Indian regime. According to Kashmir Media Service, in his message from New Delhi’s Tihar jail, the incarcerated leader mentioned singing of a devotional Hindu hymn in Srinagar and renaming of schools, colleges, roads and other landmarks having Muslim-rooted names as part of the New Delhi’s latest bid to impose Hindutva ideology in the Muslim majority territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

 Referring to settler-colonialism policies of the Indian state, he said, “Enactment of a series of anti-Kashmiri laws such as rebranding of demographics and redrawing of Jammu and Kashmir’s electoral map have instilled a fear of insecurity amongst the Kashmiris”. These laws, he said, were meant to change the region’s demography and to deprive natives of their resources, jobs, identity, cultural, land and above all the right of self-determination guaranteed to them by no less than the United Nations itself.

Terming these laws as a serious violation of the UN resolutions, Shah urged the influential world  governments to take effective notice of India’s settler colonialism drive intended to replace the indigenous population with a new society of settlers in the occupied Kashmir. Referring to the 5th August 2019 move by the Indian government, the APHC leader said, “The move was a deep-rooted conspiracy against Kashmiris to erase the their political, cultural and national identity”. he maintained that the unilateral move has pushed the region into a quagmire of uncertainty.

Expressing deep concern over the lack of freedom of the press and expression in IIOJK, he said, “Coercion, intimidation and harassment of political activists, journalists, rights groups and civil society activists, has been a hallmark of the Modi government’s Kashmir policy”. He urged the world leaders to influence India to resolve the lingering Kashmir dispute. Shah appealed to the Kashmiri masses to observe complete strike on 27 October as a mark of protest against the India’s illegal and forcible occupation of their motherland.

Meanwhile, another jailed APHC leader, Molvi Bashir Irfani in his message from Srinagar Central jail said October 27 marks the beginning of Indian occupation of Kashmir and urged the people to observe it as Black Day. He said that India had started targeting Kashmiris from that day for resisting its terrorism. Democratic Hurriyat Front Chairman Chaudhry Shaheen Iqbal in a statement also called for observing October 27 as Black Day across the Line of Control and abroad.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)