In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leaders and organizations have called on the Kashmiri people to observe January 26, India’s Republic Day, as a “Black Day” in protest against India’s illegal occupation and continued suppression of their rights. 

APHC leaders, including Ghulam Muhammad Khan Sopori, Muhammad Saleem Zargar, Syed Bashir Andrabi, Advocate Arshad Iqbal, Advocate Haseeb Wani, Maulana Musab Nadvi, Khawaja Firdous, Imtiaz Ahmad Reshi, Ghulam Nabi War, Farida Behenji, Yasmeen Raja, Zamrooda Habib, and Abdul Samad Inqilabi, alongside organizations such as the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party, Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir, and Muslim League, have strongly condemned India’s actions in the occupied territory. 

They stated that while India portrays itself as the world’s largest democracy, its actions in IIOJK reveal a starkly different reality. They said, “For 77 years, India has used military force to deny the Kashmiris their internationally recognized right to self-determination, exposing itself as an occupying power rather than a democratic state”. 

They emphasized that India has no moral or legal justification to celebrate its Republic Day in a disputed region that remains under its oppressive military control. IIOJK’s status as a disputed territory, recognized by the United Nations, underscores that its political future has yet to be decided, they added. The APHC leaders highlighted that January 26 brings additional hardships for the people of IIOJK. Under the pretext of security measures, they said, the Indian authorities have has imposed severe restrictions, deploying massive numbers of troops across Srinagar and other towns. 

This militarization, they pointed out, has created an atmosphere of fear and insecurity, making daily life unbearable for the local population. The occupied territory, they noted, resembles a military garrison where no one’s life or property is safe. The Hurriyat leaders and organizations urged United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to take immediate notice of the worsening situation in IIOJK and to pressure India into resolving the Kashmir dispute.

 Meanwhile, leaders of the APHC-AJK chapter, including Mahmood Ahmad Saghar, Altaf Hussain Wani, Mushtaq Ahmad Butt, Muhammad Sultan Butt, Zahid Ashraf, Zahid Safi and others, also reiterated the call to observe India’s Republic Day as a “Black Day.” They condemned the harassment of Kashmiris under the guise of heightened security measures and called for resolving the Kashmir dispute in accordance with relevant UN resolutions and the will of the Kashmiri people.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)