India’s invasion of Kashmir was most dreadful incident of its colonial history: Nayeem Khan

Illegally detained senior leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), Nayeem Ahmed Khan, has said that the Indian invasion of Kashmir in 1947 was the most dreadful incident of India’s colonial history that threw the region into throes of instability and perpetual violence.

Nayeem Ahmed Khan in his message from New Delhi’s Tihar jail said October 27 marks the beginning of Indian occupation of Kashmir and urged the people to observe it as Black Day.

It was on 27th October in 1947 when Indian troops in total violation of the Partition Plan of the Subcontinent had militarily invaded Jammu and Kashmir and illegally occupied it against the will of the Kashmiri people.

The APHC leader said India’s attempt to legalize its illegality rests on a bogus instrument of accession by a Maharaja, which he had no authority to sign in any event. British historian Alastair Lamb in his book had convincingly demonstrated that the “Instrument of accession” was bogus, he added.

Nayeem Khan said India’s continuous denial to grant right to self-determination to the people of Kashmir has brought death and destruction in the region. “Kashmiris are being brutally victimized by over one million Indian military and paramilitary personnel deployed in the length and breadth of Kashmir,” he deplored.

He said during the past three decades alone, more than 100,000 Kashmiris have been killed because of India’s military occupation. He said, on one hand, India had backtracked from its commitments regarding the resolution of Kashmir dispute, while on the other, its refusal to accept international mediation seems to shut the door for any kind of international dialogue on Kashmir.

The APHC leader urged the Indian government to give up its intransigence on the Kashmir dispute. He said dialogue is the only way forward to seek a just and lasting settlement of the lingering dispute.

Meanwhile, Nayeem Khan paid rich tributes to the Bijbehara martyrs on their martyrdom anniversary. He said the supreme sacrifices rendered by Kashmir martyrs have brought Kashmir into limelight at international level.

It may be recalled that over 50 innocent Kashmiris were killed in Bijbehara town on October 27, 1993 when the troops of Border Security Force opened fire on peaceful demonstrators, who were protesting against the military siege of Srinagar’s Hazratbal Shrine.