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PESHAWAR, Nov 06 (APP): In connection with Kashmir Martyrs’ Day, a seminar was organized at the Press Information Department (PID), Peshawar, under the chairmanship of Information Officer Sabiha Chand.
President of Peshawar Press Club Muhammad Riaz and senior journalist Fareedullah attended as guest speakers, while participants from different walks of life were also present.
In her opening remarks, Information Officer Sabiha Chand said that the purpose of commemorating November 6, 1947, is to pay tribute to the innocent Kashmiris who were martyred at the hands of the Dogra forces, RSS, and Sikh troops.
She said that before the partition of the subcontinent, Kashmir was a Muslim-majority region, but the organized massacre changed its demographic character.
She emphasized that observing Kashmir Martyrs’ Day reminds the world that the Kashmir issue must be resolved in light of historical facts and principles of justice, as ignoring these truths would be tantamount to injustice with the Kashmiri people.
Speaking on the occasion, President of Peshawar Press Club and senior journalist Muhammad Riaz said that Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had declared Kashmir as the “jugular vein” of Pakistan, and that Pakistan’s concept is incomplete without it.
He said the issue of Kashmir remains a question mark on the conscience of the international community. Through the genocide of 1947, an attempt was made to turn the Muslim majority of Kashmir into a minority as part of a well-planned conspiracy to alter the region’s demographic and geographical identity.
Riaz further said that the Kashmiri people did not accept Indian occupation then, nor do they accept it today.
He reiterated Pakistan’s unwavering moral, diplomatic, and political support for the Kashmiri cause, adding that “Kashmir is Pakistan’s red line, and the entire nation stands united on this issue.”
He also highlighted the significant role of the media in strengthening this struggle, stressing the need for national unity and cohesion as demonstrated during Operation Bunyan um Marsoos.
Addressing the seminar, senior journalist Fareedullah from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that the oppression of Kashmiris did not begin after Pakistan’s creation but even before it.
He cited records from the British Library, where reports from independent journalists of the time document that nearly 500,000 Kashmiri Muslims were massacred by November 1947. Before this tragedy, Muslims made up 61% of Kashmir’s population, but after the killings, the proportion dropped to 31%, indicating a deliberate plan to change the region’s demographic structure.
Fareedullah added that the same extremist mindset resurfaced in 2019 when India revoked Kashmir’s special constitutional status, allowing non-locals to settle, purchase land, and establish industries in the region — a move aimed at turning Muslims into a minority in their own homeland.
He criticized the United Nations for failing to implement its own resolutions on Kashmir, calling it a weak institution that has lost its moral authority.
In her concluding remarks, Sabiha Chand said that if the Israeli Prime Minister can be labeled a criminal against humanity for the mass killing of Palestinians, then those responsible for the atrocities in Kashmir should also be held accountable at the international level.
She said the mass killings and forced land seizures in Kashmir constitute crimes against humanity. The world, she stressed, must send a clear message that injustice and oppression anywhere will not be accepted, and those who commit such acts will have to answer for their deeds.