Hurriyat leaders and human rights organizations paid tributes to the victims of the Gaw Kadal massacre on their 35th martyrdom  anniversary in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.  According to Kashmir Media Service, Indian troops killed more than 50 innocent people in the Gaw Kadal area of Srinagar on this day in 1990 by opening  indiscriminate fire on peaceful demonstrators protesting the molestation of several women by the troops the previous night. 

All Parties Hurriyat Conference spokesman Advocate Abdul Rashid Minhas, in a statement issued in Srinagar, said that Gaw Kadal and other such tragedies are a  blot on the face of so-called Indian democracy.  He emphasized that the people of Kashmir would continue the mission of the martyrs until its logical conclusion. “We must not allow this holy mission of the martyrs to disappear from our sight and use all our abilities for this purpose under all circumstances.

These shining stars of our movement will always remind us of our destination, and we will not fall prey to any conspiracy of the enemy,” he added.  Senior APHC leader Agha Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi Al-Safvi, while paying tributes to the martyrs of the Gawkadal massacre, stated that the tragedy was a deliberate act by the Indian state. He emphasized that the massacre, in which innocent Kashmiri people were brutally killed on the roads, will never be forgotten. 

Other Hurriyat leaders and organizations including Ghulam Muhammad Khan Sopori,Syed Bashir Andrabi, Khawaja Firdous, Zamrooda Habib, Junaid al-Islam,Ghulam Nabi War, Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, in their separate statements, expressed disappointment over the indifference exhibited by the international community and human rights organizations toward massacres, including the Gaw Kadal massacre. 

The leaders noted that unbridled powers granted to Indian troops under draconian laws have resulted in the killing of over one lakh Kashmiri civilians through massacres, enforced disappearances, civil protests, cordon-and-search operations, and fake encounters. The forum lamented that none of the perpetrators has ever been brought to justice. “Indian forces’ personnel involved in the massacres were never held accountable,” they stated.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)