Hundreds of protestors belonging to the‘Tehreeke Azadie Jammu and Kashmir’ on Thursday gathered at Aabpara Chowk to mark 27 October as a ‘Black Day’ in light of the atrocities committed by the Indian army in Jammu & Kashmir. The protestors carried banners inscribed with slogans against the Indian government and army, wore black armbands or held black flags and raised slogans including ‘We want freedom’, ‘Stop atrocities in Jammu and Kashmir’, and ‘Jehad is the only way out for freedom’. The Tehreek, along with members of other Kashmiri Jihadi organisations, said on the occasion that on 27th October, Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control and all across the world were observing a Black Day to convey to India their rejection of its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.
It was on October 27, 1947 that Indian troops had landed in Srinagar and forcibly occupied Jammu and Kashmir, against the partition plan of the Subcontinent prepared by the British, and the Kashmiri people’s aspirations.
The day was also marked by complete shutdown of activity in occupied Kashmir, for which All Parties Hurriyat Conference Leaders Syed Ali Shah Gilani and Shabbir Ahmed Shah, and the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front had called. Rallies in support of the Kashmiris’ struggle for liberation were held from Srinagar to Muzaffarabad and Islamabad. Addressing on the occasion, the participants said the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) had once had the strongest economy in the world which had now perished; the United States of America (USA) was struggling in Afghanistan; and India’s downfall was just around the bend. “We want Jihad as it is the only peaceful solution to tackle the Indian barbarism in Jammu. Jihad is the way of peace, because it conveys a message against brutality. Mujahideen are not at all ‘terrorists’ as the world has labelled them; their only objective is to maintain law and order in Jammu and preserve their freedom against Indian barbarism,” they said.
Participants said they would not mind exchange between India and Pakistan on a diplomatic level and they were not against the exchange of trade, culture or sports, but they would not accept Pakistani rulers tagging India as their ‘most favoured nation’, when Indian atrocities against innocent Kashmiris were on the rise. “This is against the legacy of the Kashmiri martyrs who lost their lives for this noble cause,” they said.
The leaders of these organisations also paid tribute to the over 40 Kashmiris who had been killed in Bijbehara town on 22nd October, 1993 when Indian troops had opened fire on a peaceful demonstration against the military siege of Srinagar’s Hazratbal Shrine.
Strict security measures were taken at Aabpara Chowk, which was closed for general traffic. However, an alternate route had been provided to vehicles. Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) officials were deputed on the spot.
