KARACHI: Political and religious parties as well as social organisations observed the Kashmir Solidarity Day in the metropolis on Sunday with enthusiasm and fervour.

They took out protest rallies and held meetings where speakers condemned the continued Indian occupation and brutalities unleashed by Indian armed forces against unarmed Kashmiri people, including women and children.

People from all walks of life took part in the rallies. They carried placards and banners, inscribed with the slogans expressing solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Jamaat-i-Islami took out a rally on New M. A. Jinnah Road. The rally was led by JI leaders Asadullah Bhutto, Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, Dr Osama and others.

Terming Kashmir an incomplete agenda of partition, they said that it was the basic principle and formula of the partition of the subcontinent that the Muslims-majority areas of the region would be a part of Pakistan.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf also staged a rally from the party office to Mazar-i-Quaid. MNA Dr Arif Alvi, Imran Ismail, Firdaus Shamim, Khurram Sher Zaman and other leaders led the rally.

The leaders said the sacrifices of the people of Kashmir would not go in vain as Indian rulers could no longer occupy the held valley at gunpoint.

Besides the Quaid’s mausoleum, another venue of the Kashmir Day rallies was the Karachi Press Club.

Rallies staged by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (Azad Kashmir), Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, Sunni Tehreek, Millat Kashmir Human Rights Commission, Muslim Students Organisation, All Jammu & Kashmir Conference and other bodies culminated at the KPC.

The speakers, including Qari Muhammad Usman, Allama Bilal, Ali Akbar Gujjar, Mufti Inam Mustafa, Anwar Lal Deen, Sardar Abdul Rashid, demanded that the United Nations fulfil its responsibilities of holding a plebiscite in the light of the resolutions passed by its Security Council.

Drawing attention of the world conscience towards the atrocities by the Indian armed forces against the people of Kashmir, they said that they had kept alive their freedom movement in the last 70 years by sacrificing their lives and never succumbed to the Indian subjugation.

The Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi also held a big rally, which was attended by scores of its workers and supporters, to raise its voice for the oppressed people of Kashmir.

The Shia Ulema Council-Pakistan organised a seminar in its office. Speaking on the occasion, Allama Nazir Abbas Taqvi said India was trampling the fundamental rights of the Kashmiri people.

Criticising the Pakistani rulers, he said his party fully supported the struggle of the people of Kashmir.

He demanded that the UN solve the Kashmir issue in accordance with the aspiration of the people of Kashmir.

Participants in the rallies called upon the UN and other international human rights organisations to take notice of the grave human rights violations in India-held Kashmir, where despite killing over 600,000 Kashmiris the India aggression failed to contain the liberation struggle.

Terming Kashmir the jugular vein of Pakistan, the speakers observed that the ongoing liberation struggle was the manifestation of the determination of the people of Kashmir that India would no more be able to stop them from seeking their right of self-determination and freedom.

Former defence minister and senior PML-N leader Ghaus Ali Shah said in a statement that the issue of Kashmir had become a big question mark for the whole world. He said that as a responsible country Pakistan was committed to resolving the Kashmir issue through negotiations.

Published in Dawn February 6th, 2017