MUZAFFARABAD, JULY 12 (DNA) – Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood has vowed to carry forward the mission of Kashmiri martyrs who had offered supreme sacrifice of their life on this day, 89 years ago, at Srinagar to get rid of the most oppressive Dogra rule.
“Today, we are marking the Kashmir Martyrs’ Day in the most tragic circumstances. The occupation authorities have cancelled the commemoration of this day in Srinagar and the entire occupied territory. We strongly condemn this decision by Delhi to muzzle the voices of Kashmiris,” President Masood said in a message on the occasion of Kashmir Martyrs Day.
AJK President vehemently condemned arrest of senior Hurriyat leader and Chariman of Tehreek Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir, Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA) in Srinagar ahead of Kashmir Martyrs Day.
Tracing the history of the day, AJK President said eighty-nine years ago, on July 13, 1931, the people of Jammu and Kashmir rose to protest against the cruel, autocratic rule of the Maharaja to demand freedom and to get their grievances redressed.
Religious persecution of majority Muslims was at its height at that time and people of state were in fact being treated as slaves and bonded labour. The Holy Quran had been desecrated, he added.
“It was against this backdrop that Abdul Qadeer Khan gave a clarion call at a gathering at Khanqa-i-Mu’alla in Srinagar on June 21, 1931.
Pointing to the Shergarhi Palace of the Maharajah, he inflamed the audience with his words: “Demolish this edifice of injustice, cruelty and subjugation”, AJK President recalled.
Qadeer, Masood Khan said, was arrested and tried on sedition charges. But the words he articulated galvanised and mobilised the people of Jammu and Kashmir. On July 13, during his trial, witnessed by thousands of people, a man who stood to make a call to prayer was shot dead by the Maharajah’s police. In all, twenty-two men rose to compete the azan (call to prayer). All were shot dead. These men gave their life for liberty and human dignity.
Masood went on to say that mission left incomplete by our martyrs has yet to be completed and maintained that today, under a fascist, settler-colonial rule of the BJP-RSS regime, Kashmiris are being killed, blinded, disappeared, illegally detained and tortured.
He regretted that women of IOJK have been raped to impose collective punishment on the besieged population. Nearly 900,000 occupation forces are brutalising Kashmiris. Under New Domicile Rules, thousands of non-native Hindus from India are being settled in the occupied territory to turn Muslim majority to a minority, to pillage Kashmiris’ jobs and livelihoods, and to steal their land. This is the worst instance of brazen colonisation in the 21st century.
In memory of Kashmir Martyrs, AJK President reiterated his strong resolve that to continue the freedom struggle until the people of Jammu and Kashmir realise their right to self-determination. He appealed to the international community to support the just struggle of the Kashmir and dismantle the BJP-RSS machinery of terror.
He said that people of Jammu and Kashmir pin their hopes on world parliaments, civil society and the United Nations.
“Words are not enough. Concrete actions must be taken to save Kashmiris. Kashmiri youth is restive and furious at Indian atrocities and the world’s effete attention. The time is of the essence. Let’s save Kashmir and Kashmiris from annihilation, President Khan pleaded. DNA
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