APHC sit-in protest today, IOK lockdown enters 83rd day

SRINAGAR (India): In Indian occupied Kashmir (IOK), the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) led by Syed Ali Gilani has asked the people of occupied Kashmir to march towards the Lal Chowk of Srinagar, today, the 83rd consecutive day of inhumane Valley wide lockdown, and hold a sit-in protest to show to the world that the resistance of the IOK people is above all restrictions.

According to Kashmir Media Service (KMS), Kashmiris on both sides of the line of control (LoC) and the world over are observing Black Day, today, the October 27th, 2019, to convey to the world that they reject India’s illegal occupation of their motherland.

The APHC in a statement in Srinagar maintained that the Kashmiri people were committed to resist India’s illegal occupation that had bulldozed their basic and fundamental rights.

The statement said that the people of the occupied territory will remain vigilant, steadfast and well-disciplined to take their sacred mission to its logical conclusion.

It said that the Kashmiris will never surrender to the military might and the pressure of India.

The statement emphasised that the Kashmir movement is a legitimate struggle recognised by the United Nations (UN).

The statement pointed out that the APHC will announce the future program for the people of Kashmir in next couple of days. The APHC also added that a complete shutdown will be observed today that will mark the black day though a complete shutdown exists in the occupied territory for the last 83 days.

Meanwhile, millions of people living in Kashmir Valley and Muslim majority areas of Jammu region continued to suffer immensely due to strict military siege that remained enforced on the 83rd straight day, on Saturday.

The chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Movement (JKPM), Mir Shahid Saleem, in a statement issued in Jammu said that the continued lockdown had broken the backbone of economy of the occupied territory.

The leaders of APHC Azad Jammu and Kashmir during a meeting in Muzaffarabad, on Saturday, condemned the unprovoked shelling of Indian troops on the civilian population along the LoC.

The participants said that the Indian actions posed a big threat to the regional peace. They appealed to the international community to take cognisance of Indian aggression on the LoC.

New York-based committee to protect journalists (CPJ) in a report revealed that the social networking site Twitter at the behest of the Indian government had blocked nearly a million tweets from accounts that focus on Kashmir.

The CPJ report pointed out that almost 100 accounts were also made inaccessible to the residents of the occupied territory in the last two years, spurring claims that Twitter is contradicting the very values it purports to uphold.

The study maintained that Twitter agreed to block more accounts in occupied Kashmir than in every other country combined.