August 16, 2007	Thursday	Sha’aban 2, 1428

MUZAFFARABAD, Aug 15: Dozens of Kashmiri refugees staged a demonstration here on Wednesday as part of programme to observe India’s Independence Day as ‘black day.’

The demonstration was organised by Pasban-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir, an organisation of young Kashmiri refugees living in different camps on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad.

The refugees intended to go to the United Nations Military Observers Mission near Domail to deliver a memorandum but were not allowed by authorities following which they changed their plan and ended their demonstration near press club.The demonstrators were holding a big banner which read: India’s Independence Day is Black Day for Kashmiris.

“India is not a secular and democratic state which is evident from its attitude towards minorities and people of Jammu and Kashmir,” said Uzair Ghazali, a refugee leader, in his speech.

Recalling repeated pledges of India’s first prime minister regarding the right of self-determination to Kashmiris, he regretted that instead of fulfilling those promises, successive Indian governments had adopted the course of killing Kashmiri people to quell their quest for freedom. “How come India is justified to observe independence when it has usurped the freedom of a nation in sheer disregard to its own commitments,” he added.

Mr Ghazali and other speakers asked the international community to persuade India to quit Kashmir so that the Kashmiri migrants could return to their homes in a peaceful atmosphere.

Meanwhile, a public meeting held at the press club under the aegis of the AJK government’s Kashmir Cell. The meeting was addressed by AJK minister for forests Murtaza Ali Gillani and APHC AJK chapter leader Altaf Hussain Wani.

Mr Wani rejected the idea of trade links with India without the resolution of Kashmir issue. “We want to tell those who favour trade relations with India that all such exercises will remain fruitless until the core issue is addressed,” he said.

Participants of the meeting marched towards the UN Military Observers Mission where a ritual memorandum was delivered.