ISLAMABAD, Feb 8, (APP): The people of Kashmir would observe the 10th martyrdom anniversary of freedom fighter Afzal Guru on Wednesday with the Hurriyat leadership having already announced Black Day and shutdown across the state to protest the hero’s hanging.
The martyrdom anniversary of Muhammad Afzal Guru is celebrated on February 9, every year to pay homage to a hero of IIOJK’s indigenous freedom struggle who laid his life for the cause of the Kashmiri people.
On February 9, 2013, India secretly hanged him and buried him inside the Tihar jail complex where he had been in solitary confinement for 12 years. He was convicted in the 2001 Parliament attack case and awarded a death sentence, though he always denied plotting the attack, which left 14 dead, including five militants.
The Indian Supreme Court judgment acknowledged the evidence was circumstantial: But then, shockingly, it went on to say: “The incident, which resulted in heavy casualties, had shaken the entire nation, and the collective conscience of society will only be satisfied if capital punishment is awarded to the offender.”
Every year, on his martyrdom anniversary, a complete shutdown is observed in the IIOJK and protest demonstrations are held to demand the return of mortal remains of Afzal Guru.
The illegally detained All Parties Hurriyat Conference Chairman Masarrat Aalam Butt has said the Kashmiri people will observe February 9 and 11 as black days in protest against the hanging of two iconic Kashmiri leaders Muhammad Maqbool Butt and Muhammad Afzal Guru by India in New Delhi’s infamous Tihar jail for the sacred cause of freedom.
Another prominent Kashmir leader Mabqool Bhatt was hanged on February 11, 1984 in Tihar Jail by India.
The APHC spokesman in a statement issued in Srinagar said that both the martyrs infused a new spirit in the freedom movement of Kashmir.
Even, the Sikh organization, Dal Khalsa President H S Dhami, while paying tributes to Muhammad Afzal Guru on the eve of his second martyrdom anniversary, in a statement in Amritsar criticized India for failing to hand over his mortal remains to his wife.
The martyrdom of Afzal Guru at the hands of India repressive state power is an international acknowledged living example of Indian actions to satisfy the blood thirsty Hindu extremists.
Since 1990, Indian occupational forces have killed more than 100,000 innocent Kashmiris, more than 150,000 civilians have been arrested, 8500 killed in custody, 12,000 disappeared and 110,000 structures were destroyed. Hundreds of thousands injured with at least 7,000 with pellet injuries at the hands of Indian occupational forces.
Rape had been a primary weapon of the Indian army. Indian army has weaponized rape against Kashmiris. Estimates suggested that 8,000 to 11,500 Kashmiri women had been raped by Indian forces.
Substantial evidence of atrocities was contained in the first report ever issued by the United Nations on human rights in Kashmir. The report was released on 14 June 2018 by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The Human Rights Review report on the situation of human rights IIOJK from January to December 2021 revealed 257 killings, 195 massive cordon and search operations, 130 residential houses bombed, 80 military operations, 163 freedom fighters killed, 48 Indian occupying forces killed in retaliation, and 46 civilians murdered by the occupying forces.
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