SRINAGAR (KMS): Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control and the world over have been marking the Kashmir Martyrs’ Day on Thursday (today) to pay homage to the July 13, 1931, and all other Kashmiri martyrs.
According to the KMS, there is a complete shutdown in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and other freedom movement workers will march towards the Martyrs’ Graveyard at Naqashband Sahib in Srinagar.
Call for observance of the day has been given by the APHC and supported by all pro-freedom leaders and organisations.
The APHC in a statement issued here urged people to make call for shutdown and march a success to send a strong message to the world that the people of Jammu and Kashmir believe in peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute under the UN resolutions and are not ready to accept Indian subjugation, at any cost.
Rallies, seminars and conferences will be held in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan and all major capitals of the world to pay tributes to the Kashmiri martyrs.
On 13th July 1931, the troops of Dogra Maharaja had killed 22 Kashmiris, one after another, outside Central Jail in Srinagar during the court proceedings against one Abdul Qadeer who had asked the Kashmiri people to defy the despotic Dogra rule. At the time of Namaz-e-Zuhr, a young man started calling Azaan and was shot dead by the Dogra soldiers. Another youth took his place and he too was martyred by the troops. Thus, 22 youth sacrificed their lives till the completion of Azaan.
LEADERS’ MESSAGES
Meanwhile, illegally detained APHC Chairman, Masarrat Alam Butt, in his message from New Delhi’s infamous Tihar Jail, describing the incident as an important event in the history of Jammu and Kashmir, maintained that the Kashmiri people have been rendering sacrifices to get rid of oppression for the past 92 years.
He said history stands witness to the reality that the Kashmiris have always resisted the oppression. The young Kashmiris, following in the footsteps of the martyrs of July 13, are laying down their lives and keeping the candle of freedom burning.
The APHC Chairman said, the martyrs raised their voice against the Dogra imperialism and shed their holy blood to give the message that Kashmiri people do not accept slavery. The Dogra imperialism finally ended and just like that the Brahmin imperialism will also die its death.
He pointed out that the blood of the nations engaged in the struggle against the tyrant has never been lost and the struggling Kashmiris will also see the realization of their dream of freedom.
Masarrat Alam praised the courage and bravery of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and said history is a testimony to the fact that in every region of the world, forced and illegitimate foreign occupation has ended eventually.
Incarcerated senior APHC leader, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, in his message from Tihar Jail, while recalling the supreme sacrifices of the Kashmiri martyrs, said the valiant struggle of Kashmiris against despotic Dogra Maharaja is a cornerstone of the ongoing struggle for right to self-determination.
The Kashmiri youth who have taken the mantle of resistance are fully determined to carry forward the ongoing freedom struggle, he added.
Shabbir Shah stressed the need for an early and amicable resolution of the Kashmir dispute. He said that a just solution to the lingering dispute was imperative to ensure durable peace besides putting an end to the looming and ever-present threat of nuclear war between Pakistan and India.
Another illegally detained senior APHC leader, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, in his message from the same jail said that the Kashmiris’ liberation struggle was decorated with tales of bravery and courage.
He said that 13 July is an important milestone in the history of Kashmiris’ resistance against the oppressors. He said the martyrs are the pride of Kashmiris and a great asset of the ongoing liberation struggle.
Nayeem Khan said that the Indian rulers must remember that the Kashmiris could not be conquered by the dint of force. “Despite using all means of oppression and suppression, the successive Indian governments have miserably failed to suppress the Kashmiris’ liberation struggle and their urge for freedom,” he said, adding that the day was not far when the Kashmiris’ sacrifice would bear fruit.
Other APHC leaders including Syed Bashir Andrabi, Fazal Haq Qureshi, Khawaja Firdous, Yasmeen Raja, Farida Bahenji, Abdul Ahad Parra, Muhammad Yousuf Naqash, Abdul Samad Inqilabi, Devinder Singh Behl, Muhammad Aaqib and Abdur Rasheed in their statements issued in Srinagar and Jammu said that the martyrs of July 13, 1931 laid the foundation of Kashmir’s freedom from the oppression. They said since then, hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris have laid down their lives for this sacred cause of liberation of their motherland.
The APHC leaders said the Kashmiri people will not allow the blood of their martyrs to go in vain and will accomplish their mission at all costs. They pointed out despite exhausting all its resources and employing every brutal tactic, India has not succeeded to subdue the Kashmiris’ freedom sentiment and they are determined to continue their struggle till complete success.
Earlier, APHC-AJK leaders including Ghulam Muhammad Safi, Shamim Shawl, Hassan Banaa, Sheikh Yaqoob and Zahid Ashraf in their statements issued in Islamabad and the United Jihad Council Chairman, Syed Salahuddin, addressing a meeting in Muzaffarabad said the Kashmiris had raised their voice against the oppression of the Dogra ruler decades ago and are now resisting the Indian illegal occupation of their homeland. They said the chain of sacrifices started on July 13 in 1931 still continues.
They said the people of Jammu and Kashmir are rendering unparalleled sacrifices for a sacred cause of freedom and they will definitely succeed in their struggle one day. They reiterated that this struggle will continue till complete success.
