Islamabad: Former Prime Minister of the Azad Government of the State of Jammu and Kashmir and senior leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan, has said that India’s so called Republic Day holds no meaning of celebration for the Kashmiri people and instead symbolizes a Black Day.
In a special message issued on the occasion, he said that India’s claims of democracy and secularism have been completely exposed by its actions in occupied Jammu and Kashmir over the past seven decades. He stated that celebrating democracy while holding the Kashmiri people hostage under the shadow of guns and bayonets is nothing more than an attempt to mislead the international community.
Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan said that India has not only continuously violated the basic, democratic and human rights of the Kashmiri people but has also trampled upon the rights of millions of its own citizens. He pointed out that the indiscriminate use of draconian laws, indefinite detention of Kashmiri political leadership, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and overt and covert restrictions on free media in occupied Kashmir clearly demonstrate that India has promoted fascism under the guise of democracy, rendering all its democratic claims hollow and baseless.
He said that for more than seven decades, the Kashmiri people have been making unparalleled sacrifices for their identity, freedom and completion of Pakistan, and remain steadfast in their resolve to achieve their right to self determination in accordance with United Nations resolutions. He asserted that the Kashmiri nation will continue its struggle for this legitimate right until the last drop of blood.
Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan urged the international community to recognize the reality hidden behind India’s so called democratic image and to take immediate notice of grave human rights violations in occupied Kashmir. He called for effective and practical steps to ensure that the Kashmiri people are granted their right to self determination.