LAHORE: Like other parts of the country, 'Youm-e-Istehsal' was marked across the province to express solidarity with the oppressed Kashmiri people upon completion of one year of military siege of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
One-minute silence was observed at 10:00am. Television channels and radio stations played national anthems of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir. Traffic also came to a halt for one minute.
Rallies were taken out to denounce the Indian unilateral illegal actions against Kashmiri people as well as the atrocities being carried out by the Indian forces in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
In Lahore, Governor Punjab Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar and Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar led a rally from Governor House to Punjab Assembly. Provincial Ministers Fayyaz-ul-Hassan Chohan, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Yasmin Rashid, Malik Nauman Ahmad Langrial, Akhtar Malik, President PTI Central Punjab Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhry, assembly members and others participated in the rally. The participants of rally raised slogans in favour of oppressed Kashmiris.
Addressing the participants of the rally, chief minister Sardar Usman Buzdar announced that a road will be named as 'Srinagar Road' in every district of Punjab. He said "22 million Pakistanis stand shoulder to shoulder with their Kashmiri brethren in this hour of distress. Today, the whole nation has observed Youm-e-Istehsal which has sent a clear message to the world that Pakistan will not be shy from any sacrifice for the freedom of Kashmir."
Governor Punjab Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar said on the occasion that Kashmiris have been subjected to extreme violence and no one is saved from the oppression of the Indian army. "Kashmiri women have to face abductions, illegal detentions, and sexual assaults at the hands of Indian security forces," he said.
He further said the fascist Modi government is carrying out ethnic cleansing of innocent Kashmiris.
The governor said that Prime Minister Imran Khan promised Kashmiris on August 5, 2019, that he will fight for the Kashmir cause as an ambassador of Kashmiris. The whole world is a witness that Imran Khan has been raising the issue of Kashmir on every international forum including the United Nations. "We want to send a clear message to India that we stand by the people of Kashmir, we will not leave any stone unturned unless our Kashmiri brethren will attain freedom from the clutches of oppression," he said. Kashmir will one day become a part of Pakistan and Kashmiris will be free from the Indian atrocities very soon.
Earlier, Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar and Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar held a meeting in which national and political matters of the country came under discussion. Matters pertaining to development programme in Punjab, corona situation and coalition affairs were also discussed, the sources claimed.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020