Srinagar, Leaders from the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) commemorated the 30th martyrdom anniversary of the Bijbehara massacre victims, reiterating their call for justice and an end to human rights violations in the region.
According to a news release by Kashmir Media Service, on October 22, 1993, in Bijbehara, Islamabad district, over 50 innocent Kashmiris lost their lives. Indian Border Security Force personnel reportedly fired indiscriminately on peaceful demonstrators who were protesting against the Indian military’s siege of the Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar.
Several APHC leaders, including Ghulam Muhammad Khan Sopori, Syed Bashir Andrabi, Khawaja Firdous, and others, issued individual statements emphasizing that the sacrifices of the Kashmiri martyrs will pave the way for future freedom and political justice for the Kashmiri people.
From New Delhi’s Tihar jail, detained APHC leader Nayeem Ahmed Khan appealed to UN General Secretary, António Guterres, to acknowledge and act against the alleged human rights violations by Indian forces in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Khan labeled the 1947 invasion of Kashmir as a harrowing chapter in India’s colonial history, attributing it to the ongoing instability and violence in the region.
In a separate development, the High Court of Occupied Jammu and Kashmir overturned the unlawful detention of two individuals held under the stringent Public Safety Act, ordering their immediate release.
Furthermore, joint statements from the World Kashmir Awareness Forum and the Kashmir Diaspora Coalition, issued in Washington, underscored the urgency to enforce UN Security Council resolutions. They emphasized the necessity to halt the extensive fatalities of innocent civilians in both Palestine and Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir by the governing forces of Israel and India.
Outside the Indian Embassy in the United States, a significant number of Sikh community members demonstrated, appealing to the US to champion the establishment of an independent Sikh state, Khalistan. The demonstration witnessed vocal slogans endorsing Khalistan and opposing India.