Addressing the event, Ambassador Qasim Mohiuddin noted that 5th August was a dark day. On this day in 2019, people of Jammu and Kashmir were robbed of their distinct identity recognized and protected status under the Constitution of India. He highlighted that with the abrogation of articles 35A and 370 of the Constitution, the BJP led Government has tried to eradicate the special status of the Kashmiri people in sheer violation of the UN Security Council Resolutions and Geneva Conventions. Ambassador Mohiuddin shared that ‘today’s event marks the completion of an unprecedented five years long military siege and draconian curbs on the fundamental freedoms of the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir’. Since 5 August 2019, the Indian government has been making a concerted effort to being about demographic changes in IIOJK in a bid to further marginalize the Kashmiri people in their own homeland and bring in non-Kashmiri settlers to diminish & destroy the distinct Kashmiri identity.

Attention was also drawn towards the Kashmiri leadership which remained incarcerated under false charges including renowned Kashmiri leader Mr. Yasin Malik who had been sentenced in a fallacious case and was confined in the notorious Tihar jail despite deteriorating health condition. Since August 2019, over 600 people have been martyred and extra-judicial killings claimed hundreds of lives this year alone. Enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, and frequent cordon-and-search operations continued to harass and intimidate the ordinary Kashmir people in contravention to UNSC resolution and the Geneva Convention.

A documentary was also shown on the occasion highlighting the continued and systematic violations of human rights of the people of IIOJ&K at the hands of the Indian Occupying forces.

Participants of the event acknowledged that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute was an internationally issue and no unilateral action by the Indian Government would either alter the disputed status of the territory or prejudice the legitimate right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people.

Baku, Azerbaijan

5 August 2024