GB chief minister says Kashmir cause is every Pakistani's duty

Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Amjad Hussain Advocate and Sindh Labour Minister Saeed Ghani told a Kashmir Black Day rally in Karachi that the dispute is the responsibility of every Pakistani, with the chief minister saying the freedom movement "can neither be stopped nor suppressed by force", Daily Times reported.

The rally was organised by the Karachi Commissioner and began at People's Chowrangi before ending at the mausoleum of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Participants observed a minute's silence at the outset. Sindh Tourism and Culture Minister Syed Zulfiqar Shah, Sindh chief minister's adviser Syed Najmi Alam, All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader Muhammad Shafi Dar, Karachi Commissioner Hassan Naqvi and Sham Sunder Advani also attended, along with Sindh Assembly members, provincial government secretaries, deputy commissioners, schoolchildren and teachers.

Amjad Hussain said the gathering commemorated 27 October 1947, when Indian troops landed in Kashmir. He described Kashmir as an integral part of Pakistan and said the country remained incomplete without it, calling India's presence in the territory an illegal occupation.

"We have struggled for Kashmir's freedom for 78 years and will continue to do so," he said, adding that liberation movements had no fixed time frame and could not be extinguished through the use of power. He said such rallies were meant to awaken the conscience of the international community and to remind world powers, international institutions and human rights organisations of their responsibilities.

The chief minister criticised India's 5 August 2019 decision to revoke the territory's special status, saying it had stripped Kashmiris of even the limited rights they previously held, and accused India of violating United Nations resolutions. He expressed disappointment at what he called the international community's failure to take effective action, and said young Pakistanis should be educated about the dispute so that the struggle continues across generations.

Saeed Ghani said the Kashmiri people continued to stand up to Indian forces while Pakistan had consistently supported their cause. Referring to the recent Pakistan-India conflict, he said its outcome had raised hopes that the dispute would be resolved soon, claiming that Pakistan's armed forces had defeated India and that the country's growing international standing had strengthened those hopes.

Muhammad Shafi Dar of the Hurriyat Conference said Kashmiris observe 27 October as a Black Day because Indian troops landed in the territory on that date in 1947. He said India had taken the dispute to the United Nations but it remained unresolved, described the territory as one of the world's most militarised regions, alleged a settlement policy similar to Israel's, claimed more than one million Indian troops were deployed there, and criticised the United Nations for failing to address Kashmiri grievances.

Syed Zulfiqar Shah said Black Day was being observed across Pakistan and in other parts of the world, and claimed that a movement against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had emerged in India as well.