Pakistan observes Kashmir Black Day to protest Indian occupation of IIOJK | The Express Tribune

ISLAMABAD:

Black Day is being observed across Pakistan to condemn India’s occupation of Jammu and Kashmir, and to remind the international community that the Kashmir dispute remains unresolved even after seventy-eight years. Black Day is observed on October 27, the date India illegally annexed the State of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947. Pakistan and Kashmiris across the globe observe October 27 as Black Day.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

In Peshawar, a rally was taken out from the Civil Secretariat, attended by departmental secretaries, government employees, and schoolchildren. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi joined the rally, which later reached the Governor’s House, where participants observed a one-minute silence in solidarity with the people of Kashmir.

Addressing the rally, educationist Syed Qasim Ali Shah said India could no longer compete with Pakistan, adding that Pakistan desired peace and preferred dialogue over conflict. “Whenever India looks at us with hostility, it will receive a firm response,” he said.

Governor Kundi, in his address, said the world must decide whether the Kashmir issue will be resolved diplomatically or on the battlefield. “We have already responded to India on the battlefield, and even on the diplomatic front, India has faced humiliation,” he remarked. He added that the world also needed Pakistan’s role in resolving the Palestinian crisis. “Today, Saudi Arabia has entrusted the protection of Makkah and Madinah to the Pakistani armed forces,” he said, stressing that Pakistan sought a settlement of the Kashmir dispute in line with United Nations resolutions.

Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi expressed solidarity with the Kashmiri people, recalling that on 27 October 1947, Indian forces began their illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir. “The oppression of Indian forces continues to this day,” he said. “Freedom is the fundamental right of the people of occupied Kashmir, and we stand shoulder to shoulder with them in their struggle.”

Afridi urged international human rights organisations to take notice of Indian atrocities and called on the United Nations to ensure the right to self-determination for Kashmiris as promised in its resolutions. He emphasised that lasting peace in the region depended on a fair settlement of the Kashmir issue. “The government and people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will continue to extend moral, political, and diplomatic support to their Kashmiri brothers,” he said.

Read: Kashmiris observe ‘Black Day’ on Indian Republic Day

Islamabad

In Islamabad, a central rally and protest walk were held on Constitution Avenue under the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs, in collaboration with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Information. Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs Engineer Amir Muqam, Foreign Secretary Amina Baloch, and Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andarabi led the procession from the Foreign Office to D-Chowk.

Participants, including Hurriyat leaders, government officials, students, and civil society representatives, carried placards and chanted slogans in support of Kashmiri self-determination. The rally aimed to express solidarity with the people of Kashmir and draw global attention to India’s ongoing occupation.

Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also issued a statement marking the day, saluting Kashmiri martyrs, Hurriyat leaders, and families who have resisted Indian oppression. “October 27 marks the darkest chapter in history when India illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

Naqvi condemned India’s human rights violations, including pellet gun use, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and the harassment of women. He said thousands of young Kashmiris had sacrificed their lives for freedom, yet the spirit of resistance remained strong.

He added that media blackouts, internet shutdowns, and military sieges had turned the valley into a prison, while the world’s silence in the face of Indian brutality had raised serious questions about global justice. “The solution to the Kashmir issue lies only in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people and UN resolutions,” Naqvi said.

Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs, Gilgit-Baltistan and SAFRON, Engr Amir Muqam, condemned the brutalities towards innocent Kashmiri people by Indian forces in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), reaffirming Pakistan’s unwavering support with the Kashmiri people in their struggle to achieve the right to self-determination according to the United Nations (UN) resolutions.

In his message on October 27, the day which is being observed as Kashmir Black Day to mark the illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir by Indian forces, Amir Muqam said that our prayers always with our Kashmiri brothers and sisters who had faced decades of injustice and oppression at the hands of Indian forces.

“Since then, the kashmiri people there have been denied their promised right to self-determination,” he said, adding, “For seventy-eight long years, the people of IIOJK have endured immense hardships at the hands of the Indian authorities. However, they have never allowed their resolve to be broken, and they remain steadfast in their demand for their right to self-determination. Their decades long resilience is a powerful reminder to the world that no force can erase the legitimate aspirations of a people.”

Read more: ‘Peace elusive without Kashmir settlement’

On this day, the Government of Pakistan and the people of Pakistan stand shoulder to shoulder with our Kashmiri brothers and sisters, he vowed.

“Their pain is our pain, and their fight is our fight. We will continue to support them politically, morally, and diplomatically until their right to self-determination is fulfilled,” he said.

Pakistan hopes that one day peace and justice will prevail for the people of Kashmir and that South Asia will move towards stability through a fair resolution of this long-standing dispute, he added.

Sindh

Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said the day marks “the illegal occupation of Kashmir by Indian forces in 1947.”

“October 27 is not merely a date, it symbolises decades of sacrifice, struggle, courage, and resilience by the Kashmiri people,” he said. “For more than seven decades, the people of occupied Kashmir have lived under the weight of oppression and injustice. Despite the tyranny, their determination and spirit remain unbreakable.”

Bilawal said that since the unilateral revocation of Kashmir’s special status, the region has faced severe restrictions on movement, communication, and assembly. “Fake encounters, custodial torture, extrajudicial killings, and enforced disappearances continue unabated in occupied Kashmir,” he added.

He urged the international community to “heed the call of conscience” and ensure the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination, as guaranteed by United Nations resolutions. “We stand shoulder to shoulder with the Kashmiri people in line with the vision of Quaid-e-Awam Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. Our support will continue until their dream of freedom and justice is realised,” he said.

PPP Parliamentarians Central Spokesperson Shazia Marri echoed Bilawal’s remarks, calling October 27 “a day of solidarity with the oppressed people of Jammu and Kashmir.”

“The Black Day serves as a reminder of the illegal occupation of 1947 and symbolises the sacrifices, struggle, and courage of the Kashmiri people,” she said. “For over seven decades, they have faced oppression and tyranny, yet their courage remains unshaken. The PPP stands firmly with them until they achieve freedom and justice.”

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has expressed solidarity with the people of Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir on the occasion of Kashmir Black Day, observed across Pakistan to protest against India’s occupation of the region.

In a statement, Shah said, “27 October 1947 marks the day when Indian forces entered Srinagar with an unholy intent. Today symbolises our protest against the illegal occupation of Kashmir.”

He described Kashmir as “the lifeline of Pakistan” and reaffirmed Sindh’s unwavering support for the Kashmiri people. “We stand shoulder to shoulder with our Kashmiri brothers,” he said, adding that the world “must not remain silent” over India’s human rights violations in the region.

The chief minister urged the United Nations to ensure the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination in accordance with its resolutions. “India’s occupation of Kashmir is a violation of UN resolutions,” he said. “The sacrifices of the Kashmiri people will not go in vain. Every Pakistani stands with them in their struggle for freedom.”

Shah expressed confidence that “the Kashmiri people’s struggle for liberation will soon bear fruit and Kashmir will become part of Pakistan.”

Sindh Minister for Local Government Syed Nasir Hussain Shah led a rally on the occasion of Kashmir Black Day. Speaking at the event, Shah thanked all participants for joining the demonstration, saying that October 27 is observed across Pakistan as a day of protest against India’s occupation of Kashmir.

Also read: Indian exploitation of Kashmiris condemned

He said India had unlawfully taken control of Kashmir on this day in 1947 and had since committed severe atrocities, killing a large number of Kashmiris. Shah said Indian propaganda against PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had backfired, as Bilawal had consistently raised the voice of the Kashmiri people on every platform.

“We consider Kashmir an integral part of Pakistan,” Shah stated, adding that it is the fundamental right of the Kashmiri people to decide their own future.

PM Shehbaz and President Zardari observe Black Day

President Asif Ali Zardari called upon the international community, particularly the United Nations and global human rights organizations, to hold India accountable for its grave and systematic human rights violations in IIOJK, to bring an immediate end to the ongoing Indian atrocities in the occupied territory and to actively work towards the resolution of this long-festering dispute.

“The United Nations, in particular, owes it to the Kashmir people,” the president said in a message on observance of Kashmir Black Day.

After August 19 2019, President Zardari further said this brutal campaign had only intensified, adding India had unilaterally revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, imposing a military siege, destructing properties of Kashmiris to inflict ‘collective punishment’ and enforcing draconian laws that strip the Kashmiri people of their fundamental freedoms.

He said the occupied territory remained under severe restrictions on movement, communication, and assembly, while fake encounters, custodial torture, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, continued to terrorize civilians. Systematic attempts were being made by Indian authorities to turn the Kashmiris into a minority in their own homeland, he observed.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif said that lasting peace and stability in South Asia would remain elusive without the just and peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and wishes of the Kashmiri people.

In a message on Kashmir Black Day observed on October 27, he said, “Every year the 27th of October marks the darkest day in the history of Kashmir. It was on this day, seventy-eight years ago, that the Indian Occupation forces landed in Srinagar and annexed it – a tragic chapter in human history that continues to this day. Ever since that fateful day, India continues to deny the Kashmiri people their inalienable right to self-determination, as enshrined in numerous resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.”

“I wish to assure the Kashmiri people, that they are not alone in their struggle, rather, the 240 million people of Pakistan stand resolutely beside them,” he stressed.

The prime minister said, “We reaffirm our unwavering solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and will never relent in our commitment to the Kashmir cause, until justice is done and the promise of self-determination, pledged by the international community, is finally fulfilled. Inshallah, that day is not far.”

Pakistan embassy in Beijing

The Embassy of Pakistan in Beijing marked Kashmir Black Day, remembering the 1947 Indian occupation of Jammu and Kashmir. Messages from Pakistan’s leadership reaffirmed support for the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) in their struggle for self-determination and condemned ongoing human rights violations.

Ambassador Khalil Hashmi highlighted the day’s historical importance and the need to uphold international law. The event included a documentary and photo exhibition showing the plight of Kashmiris, with a call for an early resolution to ensure peace in South Asia.

With input from APP