ISLAMABAD: Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) will observe black day today (Sunday) when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertakes his first visit to occupied Kashmir.

This was announced by Azad Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas while speaking at a crowded press conference at the Kashmir House.

This was Tanveer Ilyas’ first press conference in the capital after assuming the office of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir prime minister.

Convener All Parties Hurriyat Conference-Azad Kashmir chapter (APHC) Farooq Rehmani and members of the AJK legislative assembly were also present on the occasion.

Mr Ilyas said protest demonstrations would be held and rallies taken out in Azad Kashmir as well as India-held Kashmir.

Protests, rallies to be taken out in Azad Kashmir, India-held Kashmir

He said Modi could not hoodwink the world by visiting occupied Kashmir in the presence of 800,000 Indian troops.

Terming Modi the ‘biggest terrorist’ and ‘killer of Kashmiris’, the AJK premier said his Hindutva ideology posed a serious threat to peace in the region and beyond, urging the United Nations to play its due role in resolving the lingering Kashmir dispute peacefully.

He said it was high time that the international community, particularly the UN, came forward in a big way to resolve the Kashmir dispute which was the main cause of unrest in the region.

The dire situation in occupied Kashmir merits immediate attention of the United Nations, Mr Ilyas said, adding that Kashmiris wanted the right to self-determination and did not want to be with India.

Referring to the enforced disappearances and killings of youth in fake encounters, the AJK premier said thousands of unmarked mass graves spread all across the territory spoke volumes about the systematic genocide of Kashmiris at the hands of India’s occupation machinery.

“At a time when Kashmiris stand deprived even of the inconsequential rights of governance due to stripping of the special status of their state, when the Indian occupation forces have stepped up the worst ever atrocities, Modi’s visit amounts to rubbing salt into the wounds of Kashmiris,” he said.

In fact, he said, the visit was part of the BJP government’s ploy to hoodwink the international community and create a false impression that “all is well in Kashmir”.

Paying rich tributes to veteran Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Gilani, PM Ilyas said Gilani was the voice of Pakistan.

Speaking on the occasion, Hurriyat leader Mohammad Farooq Rahmani said: “Indian army is killing Kashmiris the way Hitler committed mass killings in Germany and Israel massacred the Palestinians.”

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2022