Lahore - Pakistan has reiterated its support to Kashmiris in their struggle for right to self-determination as the people in the occupied valley continues to suffer Indian oppression.
Over 50 people have been killed since July 8 as occupying authorities responded with brute force to mass protests breaking out across Kashmir against the killing of a young freedom fighter, Hizbul Mujahideen operational commander Burhan Wani, by Indian soldiers.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif yesterday said Pakistan will continue to extend moral, diplomatic and political support to the Kashmiri people in their just struggle to the right of self determination.
Addressing a party meeting, in Islamabad in which Farooq Haider was nominated as new PM of Azad, Jammu and Kashmir, Nawaz said Pakistan will continue to effectively highlight the Kashmir issue on international fora.
It is the basic right of the Kashmiris that the “Kashmir dispute is resolved according to the UN resolutions and aspirations of the Kashmiri people,” he added.
Foreign Office Wednesday said that India’s calling Kashmir as its essential part was a violation of UNSC resolutions. FO spokesman Nafees Zakaria in an interview said Pakistan would always resist this notion at every forum.
He said Pakistan’s main concern was the human rights violation in Kashmir and regretted that the international community remained oblivious about the situation. He emphasised that the recent wave of protests in Kashmir must not be taken as something new. Rather, it is a freedom movement continuing since 1989 in which over 0.1 million Kashmiris have lost their lives.
The curfew, which was lifted in parts of held-Kashmir after 18 days of imposition on Tuesday, was re-imposed yesterday after the region was rocked by fresh protests.
In capital Sirinagar, 14 people were injured on Tuesday in clashes between protesters and state forces.
Hundreds of angry residents rallied in the city on Wednesday to protest against Indian rule, shouting slogans for freedom and clashing with police who fired tear gas canisters to disperse them, a witness said.
Schools, colleges and business establishments remained closed while public transport remained off roads. Attendance in government offices was very thin, an official said.
Curfew has been clamped again in view of call for a march to Kulgam , an official source told a news agency.
Police arrest Gilani, Mirwaiz
Indian police arrested the Chairman of All Parties Hurriyet Conference Syed Ali Gilani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq outside their residences in Srinagar yesterday to prevent them from leading the march towards Kulgam district, KMS reported.
The Hurriyet leadership had jointly announced the march to express solidarity with the people there who have been badly hit by ongoing Indian terrorism. A rally was also to be held in Kulgam to pay tribute to the martyrs.
Call to world community
Hurriyet leaders and organisations in their separate statements in Srinagar called upon the international community and the UN to press India for stopping genocide of the innocent Kashmiris.
In India, students and alumni of Haryana-based Ashoka University through an open letter asked Indian government to demilitarise Kashmir and hold a plebiscite as promised by Jawahar Lal Nehru.
A pro-Kashmir demonstration was also held at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.
The US-based renowned Kashmiri scholar, Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, in his letter to the editor of New York Times stressed the urgent need of finding the solution of the current situation in Kashmir through the active engagement of a multilateral effort on American initiative.
The Chief Patron of Kashmir Concern, UK, Prof Nazir Ahmed Shawl, through a letter appealed to the UNHRC to take cognisance of the deteriorating human rights situation in Kashmir.
