Zardari, Shehbaz Reiterate Support for Kashmiris

News Desk

Islamabad: Every year on October 27, a somber mood grips Pakistan and Kashmiri communities around the world as they mark Kashmir Black Day — a day that symbolizes resistance, remembrance, and an unbroken struggle for self-determination. 

It commemorates the fateful day in 1947 when Indian forces entered Jammu and Kashmir, a move that Pakistan and Kashmiris regard as the beginning of decades-long illegal occupation and human suffering.

Seventy-eight years later, the echoes of that day still resonate across the valleys of Kashmir. The people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) continue to live under one of the world’s most militarized regimes, facing daily curbs on freedom, communication blackouts, arbitrary arrests, and systematic human rights abuses.

On this year’s Black Day, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed Pakistan’s unwavering moral, diplomatic, and political support for the Kashmiri people, calling for renewed global attention to the unresolved dispute that lies at the heart of South Asia’s instability.

“On its part, Pakistan will continue its unwavering support to the people of IIOJK who continue to endure oppression on a daily basis,” President Zardari said, urging the international community to hold India accountable for grave and systematic human rights violations.

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President Zardari emphasized that peace in South Asia would remain elusive until the Kashmir issue was resolved in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. He noted that after India’s unilateral move on August 5, 2019, to revoke Kashmir’s special status, the situation worsened — marked by a military siege, widespread detentions, and draconian laws that stripped Kashmiris of their fundamental rights.

“Every year, we observe this day as Kashmir Black Day to honor the valiant struggle and sacrifices of our Kashmiri brothers and sisters who continue to resist tyranny,” he said, lauding the resilience of generations who have stood firm despite relentless repression.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in his message, echoed similar sentiments, describing October 27 as the “darkest day in the history of Kashmir.” He said that India’s continued denial of the right to self-determination, enshrined in multiple UN resolutions, remains one of the longest unresolved injustices in modern history.

“Since August 5, 2019, India has further intensified its illegal and unilateral actions, aimed at altering the demography and political status of IIOJK,” the prime minister said, condemning the mass detentions of political leaders, activists, and journalists.

He warned that India’s repressive tactics — including communication blackouts, restrictions on movement, and targeted intimidation — represent a systematic effort to silence legitimate political voices in the region.

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“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,” PM Shehbaz vowed.

Both leaders urged the United Nations, human rights organizations, and world powers to play their part in ending the suffering of the Kashmiri people and ensuring a peaceful, just, and lasting resolution of the dispute.

For millions of Kashmiris, Black Day is not just a date on the calendar — it is a reminder of promises unfulfilled and rights denied. Yet, amid repression, their spirit of resistance remains unbroken. Pakistan’s leadership, on this day, sought to remind the world that silence in the face of injustice is not neutrality — it is complicity.

As the black flags wave once again across Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, they symbolize not defeat, but defiance — a testament to the enduring hope that one day, the people of Kashmir will be free to decide their own destiny.