#HandwaraMassacre

Srinagar: The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has paid glowing tributes to the victims of the Handwara massacre on their 36th martyrdom anniversary in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

According to Beyond the Time News, at least 21 unarmed Kashmiris were martyred and dozens injured on January 25, 1990, when Indian troops opened fire on peaceful protesters in north Kashmir’s Handwara town. The demonstrators were protesting against the earlier mass killing of civilians by Indian forces at Gaw Kadal in Srinagar.

A few days earlier, on January 21, 1990, more than 50 innocent people were martyred and hundreds injured when Indian troops resorted to indiscriminate firing on peaceful protesters at Gaw Kadal, one of the deadliest massacres in Kashmir’s history.

APHC spokesman Advocate Abdul Rashid Minhas, in a statement issued in Srinagar, extended heartfelt tributes to the martyrs of Handwara and other massacres, most of which were carried out by Indian forces during the month of January in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. He said these killings exposed the brutal nature of Indian occupation and its reliance on force to suppress the Kashmiri freedom struggle.

The statement said the sacrifices of the Kashmiri martyrs constitute a priceless asset of the ongoing movement for freedom and self-determination, adding that it is due to these sacrifices that the Kashmir dispute has drawn sustained international attention.

The APHC maintained that despite decades of killings, repression and the imposition of draconian laws, the Indian government has failed to break the resolve of the Kashmiri people or extinguish their demand for justice and freedom.

The APHC appealed to the international community, particularly the United Nations and influential world powers, to press India to conduct independent and impartial investigations into the Handwara, Gaw Kadal and other massacres, and to resolve the Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.