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PESHAWAR, Oct 27 (APP):From Karachi to Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and from Gwadar to Peshawar, Kashmiris on Monday staged protest rallies and demonstrations, condemning India’s continued illegal occupation of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
Marking October 27 as a “Black Day,” Kashmiris across Pakistan and Azad Kashmir expressed solidarity with the oppressed people of IIOJK and denounced the decades-long Indian atrocities and state terrorism that intensified after the revocation of the region’s special constitutional status on August 5, 2019.
India had tried to rob Kashmiris of identity and freedom on October 27 but failed in its nefarious designs as Kashmiris stood up against illegal occupation and freed Azad Kashmir.
At Peshawar, mammoth protest rally was organized from the Chief Minister’s Secretariat to the Governor House.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi led the rally.
A large number of government officials, members of civil society, and students participated in the event.
The participants condemned the Indian state’s oppression in Occupied Kashmir and expressed solidarity with the Kashmiri people.
The rally participants carried placards inscribed with slogans against Indian atrocities.
The speakers said all records of oppression and human rights violations were broken by the Indian occupation forces that unleashed a reign of terror in the valley, where indiscriminate firing, use of cluster ammunition, sniper attacks, and pellet guns have left thousands injured and killed.
Reports of fake encounters, arbitrary detentions, and sexual violence have further deepened the humanitarian crisis, forcing Kashmiris to live under constant fear and sleepless nights in the held valley.
Meanwhile, Secretary General of the World Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKAF), Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, said that frustration at India’s intransigence and the global community’s hesitation to fulfill its commitments had compelled the people of held Kashmir to intensify their struggle for freedom.
“In the past 35 years alone, since 1990, Kashmiris have lost more than 100,000 civilians including men, women, and children to Indian state violence,” Dr. Fai said. “Over 900,000 Indian troops remain stationed in the region, making it one of the most militarized zones in the world.”
Dr. Fai lamented the silence of international media, contrasting it with the coverage of political uprisings in Eastern Europe. “The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has warned that media freedom in Kashmir stands at the brink of extinction,” he added.
Senior APHC leader and Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), Shabbir Ahmed Shah, urged the international community to act decisively against India’s ongoing campaign to alter the region’s demography and identity.
Global human rights bodies, including Amnesty International and several partner organizations among them the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances, CIVICUS, and the Front Line Defenders have called upon G20 member states to press India for the release of Kashmiri political prisoners and human rights defenders.
“These appeals reflect a growing global call for justice, accountability, and the protection of human dignity in one of the world’s most contested territories,” the joint statement read.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has also reaffirmed its continued moral and diplomatic support for the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination in accordance with UN resolutions.
According to the Kashmir Media Service (KMS), Shabbir Shah highlighted that coercion, intimidation, and the harassment of journalists and activists remain central to the Modi-led government’s Kashmir policy.
He called on world leaders to help resolve the lingering dispute and praised Kashmiris for observing a complete strike on October 27 as a mark of protest against India’s forcible occupation.
Vice Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples League, Mushtaq Ahmed Shah, said Indian forces regularly conduct midnight raids, harass women, and abduct civilians under the pretext of search operations.
He cited the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) 2019 report, which exposed Indian forces’ use of excessive force and pellet guns against peaceful protesters that was a violation of the UN’s Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms.
“The arbitrary detention of freedom leader Yasin Malik and the killing of Burhan Wani are glaring examples of India’s attempt to silence Kashmiri voices,” he added, condemning the issuance of over six million illegal domicile certificates aimed at changing the Muslim-majority demography of the held valley.
Mushtaq Shah said that over 8,000 enforced disappearances, 8,652 unmarked graves, and the imposition of one of the world’s longest curfews on nearly 10 million unarmed civilians exposed the ugly secular face of India before the world.
Dr. Ejaz Khan, former Chairman of the International Relations Department, University of Peshawar, said India’s occupation of Kashmir contravenes multiple articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.
“As a signatory to the UDHR, India is obligated to protect fundamental human rights, yet its actions in IIOJK represent a systematic violation of international law,” Dr. Khan emphasized.
As rallies and protests echoed across Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, participants vowed to continue supporting the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination and to expose Indian atrocities on every global platform until justice is served.