MUZAFFARABAD: Rallies, processions and gatherings were held across Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Tuesday to mark the ninth martyrdom anniversary of prominent Kashmiri resistance leader Burhan Muzaffar Wani.

The anniversary is observed as “Kashmir Resistance Day” with renewed commitment to the ongoing freedom struggle.

Participants paid tributes to Wani and other Kashmiri martyrs while vowing to carry their mission forward until the region’s liberation from Indian occupation. The main event, as in previous years, was organised by Pasban-i-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir (PHJK), an organisation of post-1989 migrants from Indian-held Jammu and Kashmir, at Shaheed Afzal Guru Chowk near the confluence of the Neelum and Jhelum rivers in Muzaffarabad.

A large number of Kashmiri youth gathered to honour the memory of Mr Wani and others who laid down their lives for the cause.

Members of PHJK assembled at the site around 7am, where they had already erected a 70-foot-long and eight-foot-high banner featuring portraits of 100 prominent and well-educated Kashmiri martyrs, including Prof Abdul Mannan Wani and Prof Mohammad Rafi Butt.

Dominating the centre of the banner were enlarged portraits of Burhan Wani, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai - all widely revered figures in the pro-freedom camp.

The venue was also adorned with two large flags of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, symbolising solidarity with the Kashmiri cause.

More than 250 young participants, wearing headbands inscribed with the slogan “Freedom or Martyrdom” and t-shirts emblazoned with Mr Wani’s portrait and pro-freedom messages, were the focus of attention.

Following the playing of the national anthems of Pakistan and AJK, the young participants presented a formal salute to the portraits of Burhan Wani and other martyrs.

A well-known revolutionary anthem was played in the background as the youth collectively made a solemn pledge to continue the mission of the fallen heroes until the struggle reached its logical conclusion.

Later, all participants marched for some distance along Srinagar Highway, chanting powerful slogans such as “There is no god but Allah” and “Burhan, your blood will bring revolution!”

Prominent among those who spoke to them were PHJK chief Uzair Ahmad Ghazali, Chaudhry Mohammad Mushtaq, Usman Ali Hashim, Chaudhry Mohammad Ismail, Faisal Farooq, Fayyaz Khan.

“Burhan Wani was not merely an individual. He was the face of a resistance movement, a symbol of unwavering resolve, and a source of ideological revival for Kashmiri youth,” said Mr Ghazali in his speech.

“At a time when the freedom movement seemed to have lost momentum, he rekindled the flame.”

He noted that Mr Wani had turned the mobile phone into a powerful tool of defiance, using it to challenge Indian repression and awaken global consciousness through digital activism.

Mr Mushtaq, a migrant from Kupwara who lost his father and two brothers to enforced disappearances by Indian forces more than 25 years ago, said Mr Wani’s martyrdom had imparted a new dimension to the freedom movement and re-energised the younger generation across Kashmir.

Separately, another commemorative function was held outside the District Headquarters Complex in Muzaffarabad under the aegis of state-run Jammu Kashmir Liberation Commission while similar rallies and events were reported from many other parts of AJK, mostly led and attended by youth.

However, in a move seen as disheartening by some, none of the cabinet or legislative assembly members participated in any of the events held in the capital or elsewhere.

AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, however, issued a statement from Kashmir House Islamabad in which he paid homage to Burhan Wani, describing him as an “undisputed hero of the Kashmiri nation.”

He also reiterated his call to the international community to play its role in ending human rights violations and bloodshed in occupied Kashmir and in pressuring India to resolve the longstanding dispute in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2025