SRINAGAR - In occupied Kashmir, the All Parties Hurriyet Conference leaders, Mukhtar Ahmed Waza and Yasmeen Raja, have said that India has no moral justification to celebrate its Independence Day in the territory.Mukhtar Ahmed Waza, addressing a meeting of his party in Islamabad town appealed the Kashmir people to observe India's Independence Day as Black Day. "We don't want to hurt the sentiments of Indian people but there is no other option to show our anger," he said. He said that the Kashmiris had been struggling to secure their right to self-determination and Indian Independence Day had no relevance in the occupied territory.
Waza deplored that New Delhi claimed to be the largest democracy of the world but it was muzzling the democratic voices in the occupied territory through use of brute force. He also castigated the puppet administration for subjecting the people to harassment and intimidation in the name of the so-called security measures. He said that the whole Jammu and Kashmir had been turned into a military garrison and people were being denied free movement.
On the other hand, Yasmeen Raja in a statement issued in Srinagar said that India had suppressed all democratic rights of the Kashmiri people and was continuing its illegal hold on Kashmir at the dint of its military might. She deplored that India had promised to give the Kashmiris their right to self-determination but later backed away from its commitments.
Yasmeen Raja said that India's Independence Day was a black day for the Kashmiris who had been denied all their fundamental freedoms by the so-called largest democracy of the world. She said that observance of the black day by the Kashmiris was aimed at conveying a loud and clear message to India that they rejected its illegal occupation of their soil.
Separately, the Kashmir Centre London has said that the British Kashmiris will observe India's Independence Day on the 15th August as Black Day.The Executive Director of Kashmir Centre London, Professor Nazir Ahmed Shawl, in a statement said that a peaceful demonstration would be held outside the Indian High Commission at Aldwych London on the day. He said that on the occasion, a memorandum would also be delivered to the Indian High Commission for the Prime Minister of India regarding the ongoing human rights violations taking place in the occupied territory.
"The day is observed as a black day because India, despite the promises and commitments of its leaders, is not allowing the people of Jammu and Kashmir to exercise their right to self-determination for choosing a political future of their choice," he said.
Professor Shawl deplored that India claimed to be the largest democracy of the world but was denying all basic rights and fundamental freedoms in occupied Kashmir.