Women march against IOK brutalities

SAPM on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan says they stand with their IOK sisters

ISLAMABAD: Scores of women and children came out on D-Chowk of the federal capital to show solidarity with women and children suffering atrocities of Indian occupation forces in the occupied Kashmir.

They were holding placards and banners inscribed with slogans against Indian brutalities and human rights violations in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).

“India has snatched the religious, constitutional and legal rights of the Kashmiris, who are not even allowed to say their Friday prayers,” said Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan while addressing the rally organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Solidarity Movement in Islamabad.

Awan challenged Indian PM Narendra Modi to lift curfew in the occupied valley even for an hour and see how many Kashmiris take to streets against him.

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Women of Pakistan stood with their sisters of the IOK facing immense difficulties, and shared their pain and grief.

India, she said, had turned the occupied valley into a jail and taken away the fundamental rights of Kashmiris. It had denied the right to self-determination and freedom to the people of IOK, she added.

Dr Awan added that the PM Imran Khan would fight the case of Kashmiris in his address to the United Nations General Assembly on September 27. He will not stay silent and will take every step to stop human rights violations in the IOK, she added.

The two nuclear powers Pakistan and India, she said, were face to face on the Kashmir issue and the international community should play its role. Kashmir was the first line of defence for Pakistan and the day was not far when the Kashmiris would get freedom from India, she added.

Pakistan would continue to extend moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiris, she added. Dr Awan paid tribute to the women, who gathered on the occasion in support of the Kashmiris, who had been under siege of the Indian occupation forces for the last 40 days. She said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a coward and he could not defeat the nation which had strong belief in itself. "When the nation will be united, it will send a strong message to the world. We will not tolerate mistreatment of women by India," she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2019.