A solidarity rally marking Kashmir Black Day was held in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka on Tuesday, with speakers calling for a referendum to determine the future of Kashmir in line with United Nations Security Council Resolution 47 of 1948.
The National Revolutionary Council organised the rally, where speakers demanded that the people of Kashmir be allowed to decide their political future through a referendum. Presiding over the rally, the council’s convener, Khomeini Ehsan, said Indian troops entered Srinagar on October 27, 1947, depriving Kashmir of its independence.
The rights of Kashmiris were not a matter of charity or favour but a question of their dignity, freedom and right to determine their own future, he said.
He added that India must accept the outcome if Kashmiris voted for independence in a referendum.
Khomeini alleged that Kashmir had witnessed a severe humanitarian crisis over the past eight decades. Citing reports by United Nations human rights bodies, he alleged that Kashmiris had faced extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, custodial deaths, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual violence at the hands of Indian security forces.
He called on Muslim-majority countries to unite and take initiatives to end what he described as repression in Kashmir.
Khomeini also expressed hope that Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Tarique Rahman would raise the issue of the rights of the Kashmiri people at the United Nations and other international forums.
Pan-Islamic Movement chairman Advocate Mostafa Jamal Bhuiyan, National Revolutionary Council member secretary Dr Nabil Ahmad, assistant member secretary Abdus Salam, and advocates Saiful Islam Shuvo and Shah Ferdous Hasan Nazmul also addressed the rally.
Nawab Salimullah Academy chairman Md Abdul Jabbar and National Revolutionary Council central convening committee members Md Saidul Islam and Selim Reza Bacchu, among others, were present.
