PHOTO: FILE

QUETTA: Black day was observed across Balochistan on Sunday to express solidarity with the people of Kashmir.Thousands of people carried out protest rallies and staged demonstrations across the province, including Quetta and in other towns and cities throughout the day.



Dozens of protest rallies and demonstrations were held in Dera Murad Jamali, Sibi, Loralai, Gwadar, Turbat, Khuzdar, Noshki, Chaman, Qila Abdullah, Pishin, Zhob, Duki, Bolan, Jhal Magsi and other areas of Balochistan. Assistant to Balochistan Chief Minister Sardarzada Mir Umair Muhammad Hassani on Sunday led a Kashmir solidarity rally from Satellite Town Quetta and protested outside Quetta Press Club against the Indian brutalities in occupied Kashmir.



The participants of the rally carried placards and Kashmiri flags and chanted slogans against the Indian army while marching through various streets of the provincial capital. “People of Kashmir have been resisting the Indian occupation for the last 72 years while the timid Indian forces have killed hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri men, women and children.



Despite the hostilities, the courage of the Kashmiri people did not waver,” said Umair Muhammad Hassani, Ali Muhammad Hassani and Habib Durrani while addressing the protesters. They further said that the recent move by the Indian government of revoking special status of Kashmir has unveiled the vicious face of New Delhi.



The Indian forces intensified their brutalities on the Kashmiri people after the unconstitutional step, they added. “The valley is under lockdown for more than two months now but the United Nations and the international community have turned their backs from the human rights violations in Kashmir,” said the participants of the rally.



Black Day was also observed in Tehsil Sui of Dera Bugti district. Under the Leadership of former Balochistan minister for Home and Tribal Affairs and Senator Mir Sarfaraz Bugti a grand people’s rally was arranged from Pakistan House. A large number of students, people from the civil society, tribal elders, traders and people from different walks of life participated. People in the rally were holding banners and placards with anti-India slogans highlighting the atrocities, prolonged curfew and illegal lockdown of the Kashmir Valley. Participants of the rally chanted slogans



“Kashmir will become Pakistan” in particular. On the special instructions of Special Assistant to Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Ejaz Khan Sanjrani, a grand protest rally was arranged at Nokundi Chagai district in connection with the Black Day. People in large number gathered at the main Bazaar and marched through different routes of the city. In Khuzdar, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz and Balochistan Awami Party separately arranged two rallies.



Expressing his support to Kashmir on Black Day, Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal reiterated that Kashmir was never an integral part of India and the latter will never succeed in establishing its control over the occupied valley against the wishes of the Kashmiri people. In his special message, the Chief Minister said 22 million Pakistanis and Kashmiris from all over world, including on both sides of the Line of Control, observed 27th October as Black Day.



“India will never succeed in taking away the right of selfdetermination of the Kashmiri Muslims. Aspirations of the people can never be suppressed by the use of power for long,” Jam Kamal said.