ISLAMABAD, July 15: Pakistan will observe Tuesday, July 19 as a black day in protest against the killings of innocent Kashmiris by Indian security forces in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the federal cabinet announced on Friday.
The federal cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also decided to convene a joint session of the Parliament to discuss the situation in Indian-held Kashmir.
Addressing the meeting held at Lahore’s Governor House, the prime minister said Pakistan would continue to provide moral and diplomatic support to Kashmiris in their just struggle for self-determination.
“I and the entire Pakistani nation steadfastly stand by Kashmiris against Indian oppression,” he said, according to details of the meeting as given here by the PM’s office.
He said that the Kashmiris were fighting for their freedom and emphasised that Indian hostility would further strengthen their resolve. He said that the 0.7 million Indian security forces in the disputed region could not repress the Kashmiri’s movement for their right of self-determination. Sharif said Pakistan would play its role in awakening the conscience of the international community. All institutions of Pakistan would highlight the tyranny of Indian security forces being meted to innocent Kashmiris, the prime minister said. Earlier, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry briefed the federal cabinet on the situation in Indian-held Kashmir. The federal cabinet condemned the terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and France, and expressed grief over the loss of precious lives. The cabinet also offered fateha for late social worker Abdul Sattar Edhi, qawwal Amjad Sabri, and the Kashmiri martyrs.-Agencies
