Pakistan to Observe April 6 as Kashmir Solidarity Day

Srinagar, 2 April (KMW): A special meeting of the Federal Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was held today to review the current situation arising from the recent Indian “brutalities” and killings in “Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir.”

The cabinet, according to the official press release, adopted the following resolution: “The Federal Cabinet strongly condemned the brutal and indiscriminatory use of force by the Indian occupation forces that resulted in the martyrdom of more than 20 innocent Kashmiris in Shopian and Anantnag in the Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir.

The Federal Cabinet emphatically condemned the suspension of communication services, especially the internet in the valley, and underscored that such reprehensible Indian attempts aimed at silencing the voice of the Kashmiris from reaching the international community would never succeed.”

As per the official handout, “the Federal Cabinet paid a rich tribute to the brave and resilient people of Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir who have been continuously demonstrating against the brutal repression, incarceration, torture and extra judicial killing perpetrated by the illegal occupation Indian forces.”

The Federal Cabinet emphatically condemned the “draconian” laws, including POTA, TADA, PSA and AFSPA. It further stressed that the deteriorating situation in “IoK” and the Indian escalation at the Working Boundary and the LoC is a flashpoint and a threat to regional peace and tranquility.

Expressing solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir the Federal Cabinet urged the international community to take cognizance of the “gross and systematic human rights violations of the Kashmiris in IOK” and requested the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission to send Fact Finding missions to Kashmir.

The Cabinet also reiterated the Prime Minister’s request to the UN Secretary General to appoint a Special Envoy for Jammu and Kashmir with a mandate flowing from the unimplemented UN Security Council resolutions.

The Federal Cabinet also decided to send special envoys of the Prime Minister, including the President of Azad Jammu Kashmir, to selected capitals to highlight the deteriorating situation in IoK. The Federal Cabinet declared that 6 April 2018 be observed as Kashmir Solidarity Day “in support of our Kashmiris brothers and sisters against Indian brutalities.”