MUZAFFARABAD: Hundreds of people held a rally here on Friday to condemn the tyranny of the Indian government in Jammu and Kashmir and emphasised the need for Pakistan’s “solid” support to the Kashmiris.

The ‘Azm-i-shahadat’ (resolve for martyrdom) rally began from Sathra Mor under the aegis of Hizbul Mujahideen, the largest and predominantly indigenous militant group fighting Indian occupation of Kashmir, and concluded at Burhan Wani Chowk outside the local press club.

The participants were holding banners and placards inscribed with anti-India and pro-freedom slogans.

Speaking on the occasion, Hizbul Mujahideen supreme commander Syed Salahuddin recounted the sacrifices and ordeal of Kashmiri men, women and children and said there had been no diminution in atrocities being perpetrated by Indian troops with impunity.

“It’s the demand of Kashmiri people that the government and people as well as the armed and political leadership of Pakistan, while having full faith in Almighty Allah, should extend us solid support,” he said, repeating words ‘solid support’ twice in a clear reference to military aid.

Mr Salahuddin pointed out that Jammu and Kashmir was neither India’s integral part or internal security problem nor a territorial dispute between two countries.

Rather, he added, it was an issue of “freedom and future” of 15 million people.

He said the silence and indifference of the UN on the killing of Kashmiri youth was a matter of grave concern and warranted “diversification and innovation” in Pakistan’s foreign policy to counter India at the diplomatic front.

He said it were the unrelenting Indian atrocities and denial of internationally acknowledged right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people as well as “criminal silence” of the international community that had “pushed us to the path of armed struggle”.

“India itself imposed this war on us and now we will take it to the logical end by evicting every single Indian trooper from our motherland,” he said.

Mr Salahuddin made it clear that “we do not have any international agenda and we just want implementation of the UN resolutions, envisaging a free, fair and impartial plebiscite to let us decide our fate on our own accord.”

He added: “If India gives up its intransigence and accepts historical facts for a lasting solution to the Kashmir issue, and is willing to hold meaningful talks with Pakistan and Kashmiri leadership on the basis of right to self-determination, we, the freedom fighters, are ready to extend all possible cooperation in this regard,” he said.

All-parties conference

Meanwhile, an ‘all-parties conference’ of Kashmiri leaders was also held on Saturday under the aegis of the AJK government where leaders and representatives of different parties paid tributes to the struggling people of held Kashmir and assured them of their fullest support.

The conference endorsed the April 6 resolution of the ‘joint resistance leadership’ of Indian held Kashmir and called upon Islamabad to take up the issue of incessant killing of Kashmiris at the hands of Indian troops in the UN Security Council, UN Human Rights Council, European Union, OIC and other international forums.

Pakistan should also conduct an international Kashmir conference in Muzaffarabad, it said.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2018