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Pakistan Reaffirms Support to Kashmiri Struggle

by Staff Report
Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs

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Foreign Office marks Kashmir Martyrs’ Day with statement highlighting abuses suffered at hands of Indian forces

Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Tuesday marked Kashmir Martyrs’ Day by issuing a statement reaffirming Islamabad’s support for the just struggle of Kashmiris to secure the right to self-determination.

“On the occasion of Yaum-e-shuhada-e-Kashmir (Kashmir Martyrs’ Day), the government and people of Pakistan pay homage to the 22 sons of IIOJK [Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, who laid down their lives fighting the brutal Dogra forces in Srinagar in 1931,” read the statement issued by spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri. “The martyrs lost their lives during protest against sham trial of a Kashmiri leader on trumped up charges. The courage of these martyrs galvanized an unparalleled struggle for self-determination in 1931 that continues till date,” it added.

The Foreign Office stressed that Kashmir Martyrs’ Day is observed in Pakistan, as well as both parts of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region, “as well as by Kashmiri and Pakistani diasporas across the globe each year to commemorate the valor and sacrifices of the Kashmiris.”

Highlighting the abuses suffered by the Kashmiri population at the hands of Indian forces, the statement claimed that more than 390 Kashmiris had been martyred by Indian forces in India-held Kashmir since Delhi decided to unilaterally abrogate the disputed region’s special constitutional status on Aug. 5, 2019.

“During this year, 2021, alone, the Indian Occupation Forces have extra-judicially killed 85 innocent Kashmiris including young boys and women; arbitrarily arrested and detained 537 Kashmiris; and destroyed 31 houses of Kashmiri people,” it said. “The unabated Indian repression over the past seven decades, has failed to break the will of the Kashmiri people,” it added.

“As we commemorate the sacrifices of innocent Kashmiris today, we once again call upon the international community, particularly the United Nations and human rights organizations, to investigate the persistent extrajudicial killings of Kashmiris by Indian occupation forces and bring the perpetrators of these heinous crimes to justice,” it said. “Pakistan will continue to support its Kashmiri brethren in their just struggle against Indian oppression till the realization of their inalienable right to self-determination as enshrined in the relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions,” it added.

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