Shabbir Shah urges Kashmiris to observe 5th August as a black day

SRINAGAR, August 01 (SABAH): Senior All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leader and Chairman Democratic Freedom Party Shabbir Ahmed Shah has appealed to the people of Kashmir to observe 5th August as a black day to convey a strong message to the world that Kashmiris do not accept India’s hegemony and its illegal control over the territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

In a message from Tihar Jail, the incarcerated leader while terming 5th August 2019 as one of the worst precedents of Indian colonialism said, “It was on this day when India stripped the region of its nationhood status, dissolved the state and reduced its status to a union territory”.

The Indian government’s annexation attempt, Shabbir Shah said, was a brazen violation of the international law and the UN resolutions that strictly bar the occupying state from taking any unilateral decision. Terming it as immoral and illegal, Shabbir Shah said that the move was taken when the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir and its population was taken hostage for more than a year by imposing a crippling siege and communication blockade. “The entire Kashmiri leadership including members of civil society, academia, rights activists and lawyers were arrested and thrown behind the bars to enable complete silence”, he said.

Reiterating Kashmiris’ pledge to take the ongoing struggle to its logical end, the APHC leader said that India must bear in mind the fact that the use of illegal force always failed to suppress nations and the same thing was being witnessed Kashmir where Kashmiris have refused to bow before India despite its barbarism and brutal suppression.

“The Indian government with all its tools of oppression and suppression had failed to deter the determined Kashmiris from seeking their right to self-determination through a peaceful struggle”, Shabbir Shah said, adding the day was not far when Kashmiris would achieve their cherished goal of freedom.