Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 22: Black Day was observed today by various organizations across J&K against invasion of Pakistan Army in Jammu and Kashmir in the year 1947.
To mark the occasion, Jammu Kashmir Unity Foundation organized a webinar on the topic “Pakistan Invasion-Not a Tribal Raid”. The main speakers in the webinar were Maj Gen Goverdhan Singh Jamwal (Rtd), Dr Ajay Chrungoo, chairman Panun Kashmir, Jamil Maqsood, Foreign Affairs Committee, United Kashmir People’s National Party from Brussels, Advocate Monika Kohli, senior lawyer in J&K High Court, Dr Gopal Parthasathi Sharma, general secretary JKUF and secretary Dharmarth Trust, J&K, Mohd Tariq Shah, president Jiyo Aur Jeene Do.
The panelists demanded that Government of India should approach the International Court of Justice to ensure an international censure and punishment of Pakistan for inflicting Genocide on the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The panelists said in one voice that 1947 invasion inflicted a huge damage in which 1/3rd of Jammu and Kashmir was occupied by Pakistan and the entire population of non-Muslims living in Pakistan occupied Jammu and Ladakh were religiously cleansed by inflicting Genocide on them.
SOS International – an organization for PoK Displaced Persons today organized Black Day as usual and people from every district Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Poonch and Gilgit participated to pay homage to those who made supreme sacrifices to defend the state against the attack made by Pakistani Army and invaders to snatch the then Jammu & Kashmir state for demographic change.
The programme was organized under the leadership of Rajiv Chuni Chairman who along with Prof NN Sharma, VK Datta, Parmod Ghai, Ved Raj Bali, Bhai Ram Singh, Amarjeet Singh, Romi Sharma and others paid floral tributes to martyrs of Genocide. Two minutes silence was observed in the memory of those who had made supreme sacrifices to save the state of Jammu & Kashmir, besides a Sarav Dharma Prarthana (All religious prayer) too organized as a mark of respect.
Addressing a global seminar on the occasion of the observance of “Black Day”, Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo, senior BJP and Kashmiri Pandit leader said, “the armed aggression of Pakistan along with the tribesmen in 1947 on the then J&K state was an open act of genocidal action against the minorities of the state which left hundreds of thousands of them as refugees in their own land besides thousands of killings, rapes and loot in almost all areas under crusade of the Pak-army and tribesmen”.
“It has been 73 years of unlawful occupation of Jammu and Kashmir territory by the state of Pakistan. On 22nd October 1947, Pakistani troops aided by tribal mercenaries stormed into the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir, illegally took over the territory, and have since committed a series of human rights violations on the people of J&K in Gilgit, Baltistan and the other Punjabi speaking areas of Muzfarabad, Mirpur, Kotli, Bimbar and Plandri,” the BJP leader said.
Kotli Colony Welfare Trust (KCWT) members gathered in large number to strongly protest and observe black day. They said that Pakistani soldiers dressed as tribals brutally attacked on thousands of unarmed Hindus and Sikhs in J&K and done a huge exodus, loot, rapes and abduction of children and women.
Chairman KCWT, Chandan Datta said the worse part is that it took almost 70 years for the J&K Government to give due rights and share to West Pakistani Refugee people. He highlighted demand of reservation for young children of West Pakistan Refugees in school and colleges on the pattern of Kashmiri Pandit migrants.
Jammu Kashmir Sharnarthi Action Committee (JKSAC) in a brief meeting of the executive members of Tehsil Jammu and R S Pura held at Rohi Morh Jammu, paid rich tributes to over 40,000 martyrs who sacrificed their lives at the hands of tribals supported by Pakistani regular army and saved Indian part of Jammu & Kashmir in 1947 invasion.
President, JKSAC Gurdev Singh said that 22nd October 1947 is an unforgettable day for DPs and is being observed as Black Day when thousand of Hindus and Sikhs were thrown out forcibly by tribals who slaughtered over 40,000 people of all ages. He said that the sacrifices made by the martyrs went unnoticed by all the previous dispensation of state and centre as no serious measures were taken by any of the Government to rehabilitate the DPs honorably.
The members of All J&K Sharnarthi Action Committee, District Poonch while observing the black day, recalled the sufferings, hardships and miseries suffered by lakhs of Hindus and Sikhs from POJK in 1947 when Pakistan raiders attacked them on this fateful day of 22nd of October.
On the occasion they also highlighted their several demands including reservation of seatsin Professional and Technical institutions, reservation in Union Territory and Central Government jobs, nomination of DP candidates in Assembly and Parliament against the seats kept reserved for POK and grant of ownership rights on the Evacuee lands and houses allotted to displaced persons (DPs).
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