MUZAFFARABAD: Kashmiri activists held a demonstration here on We­dnesday to condemn the ongoing demolition dri­­ve in India occupied Jammu and Kashmir, ter­ming it yet another “ghas­tly but abortive attempt by the fascist BJP-RSS regime to subdue the freedom seeking people” of the disputed Himalayan region.

The demonstration was organised by Pasban-i-Hur­riyat Jammu Kashmir (PHJK), an organisation of post-1989 migrants from across the divide, on the call of All Parties Hur­riyat Conference (APHC) at a bustling thoroughfare outside the press club.

At the beginning of the demonstration the PHJK activists, who were holding placards and a giant panaflex banner staged a symbolic sit-in at Burhan Wani Chowk for quite some time.

“Forcible occupation of Kashmiris’ land is unacceptable,” read one of the placards.

Later, they staged a ral­ly up to the Garhi Pan Cho­w­k, during which they kept on chanting anti-India and pro-freedom slogans.

Among the participants were Leader of the Oppo­sition in AJK Assembly Chaudhry Latif Akbar and Ja­­m­a­a­t­-­i-Islami AJK’s acting emir Shaikh Aqeelur Rehman.

Last month, Indian authorities had launched a massive demolition drive in the occupied territory, ap­­p­arently to remove enc­r­o­a­chments on the state land. How­ever, already braving a string of draconian measures at the hands of the Indian government in the wake of the revocation of special status of the occupied valley, the Kashmiris believe that the latest move resembles Israeli model in Palestine.

The demonstrators in Muzaffar­abad regretted that “silence of the international community and org­anisations, such as the UN and OIC, was encouraging India to car­ry on its dreadful actions in occupied Kashmir in sheer disregard to UNSC resolutions and int­ernational and bilateral treaties”.

“As the bullets and pellets were not enough, the fascist BJP-RSS regime is now using bulldozers like that of the Israelis in its desperate efforts to subdue the freedom seeking Kashmiris,” said PHJK leader Uzair Ghazali on the occasion.

“However, the latest move will also fail to break the resolve of the Kashmiris,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2023