The Kashmir Council-European Union (KC-EU) on Wednesday organised a candlelight vigil in the Belgian capital in order to express solidarity with oppressed people of occupied Kashmir.

The programme was arranged on Tuesday evening in connection with the Kashmir Solidarity Day at Place du Luxembourg across the European Parliament and continued on despite heavy rain and unpleasant weather. A large number of people, representatives of various NGOs, and members of human rights organisations participated, a private channel reported.

The vigil went on for hours, with people from different segments of the society expressing their sympathy with the people of Kashmir, the Muslim-majority, Himalayan region that has been under a lockdown after India unilaterally scrapped its special status on August 5, 2019. Expressing solidarity with Kashmiris, who have suffered brutalities at the hands of Indian troops over the past seven decades, KC-EU Chairperson Ali Raza Syed said the situation in the region had become severer after India's move to revoke Article 370 and impose a curfew. Condemning New Delhi's atrocities against and genocide of Kashmiris, Syed paid tribute to the oppressed but brave people struggling for their right to self-determination.

"We will continue our support to the people of Kashmir till suitable resolution of the Kashmir dispute," he said. "People of Kashmir are struggling peacefully for right to self-determination and there should be plebiscite under United Nations supervision in order to make clear political fate of the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir."

Other speakers pointed out that the deployment of 800,000 Indian troops in occupied Kashmir was a proof of the large-scale human rights violations. Indian authorities were actively suppressing the peaceful mass movement of innocent Kashmiris by the use of force and brutalities, including massacre.