Senior leader of Hurriyet Conference Jammu and Kashmir, Shabbir Ahmad Shah, has asked the Kashmiri people to observe complete shutdown on August 15, the Indian Independence Day, to send a message to the world that they reject India's illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.
Shabbir Ahmed Shah in a statement issued in Srinagar said, "India does not shy away from hoisting its national flag here in Kashmir with the assistance of more than 7 lakh troops thereby misleading the world community." He said that the Kashmiris ware continuing a freedom movement against the forcible occupation of their homeland by India and had offered sacrifice of their lives while thousands of people had been subjected to enforced disappearances.
Senior Hurriyet leader said as 15th August was approaching, Indian forces were tightening their noose around the people of occupied Kashmir in the name of so-called security. He maintained that Indian troops and police personnel had unleashed a reign of terror across the territory due to which all section of the society, particularly students, had been suffered. "In a nutshell, 15 August turns the whole Kashmir Valley into a jail. This day is the Independence Day of India and not of Kashmiris," he added. Shabbir Ahmad Shah urged the people to continue their ongoing liberation struggle maintaining that the day was not far off when they would get rid of Indian bondage.