Kashmir Diaspora Coalition claim the right to resent India’s illegal occupation and observe Indian Republic Day as ‘Black Day’
January 26, 2023, Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Kashmir Diaspora Coalition (KDC) including World Kashmir Awareness Forum, Washington DC; Kashmir House, Istanbul; Tehreek Kashmir, UK; World Kashmir Freedom Movement, London and Kashmir Campaign Global, London issued a statement at the occasion of India’s 74th Republic Day. The statement is as follows: While we understand India’s excitement to mark January 26th as its Republic Day, 23 million Kashmiris around the world reserve their right to resent the 75-year illegal Indian occupation and observe this day as the Black Day.
The occupation is against the UN Charter, United Nations Security Council resolutions, and the Geneva Conventions. Furthermore, it exacerbated the situation on August 5th, 2019, by unilaterally abrogating Articles 370 and 35 A of its Constitution thus revoking their autonomy. Indian parliament unilaterally passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act of 2019 to create justification to break up the state into two Union Territories directly ruled by an Indian-appointed governor. Kashmir is now an Indian-settler colony India where Indian Hindus are invited gratis to settle in Kashmir to demographically flood Kashmir with illegal Indians to overwhelm the indigenous Kashmiri population in the elections. To further expedite the process, Indians in Kashmir are being fast-tracked to get Kashmiri domicile while indigenous Muslims are being discouraged using several government schemes.
All over the world Kashmiri diaspora observe this day as the Black Day. In Occupied Kashmir, the masses are being coerced to remain silent and the government is forced to show outward acquiescence. With the complete ban on all avenues of public expression, including social media, the Indian government tries to give the false impression to the world that Kashmiris approve of their settler-colonial project. Nothing could be further from the truth.
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Kashmir Diaspora Coalition is an international coalition of Kashmir diaspora representing the wishes and aspirations of our people in every part of the world. We stand for a free, fair, and pluralistic society in the region.
