MASSACRES LIKE LAL CHOWK ARE CONSISTENT WITH THE REPRESSION POLICY OF INDIA: YFK

ISLAMABAD, 10 April—Youth Forum For Kashmir (YFK) marked the 22^nd anniversary of the Lal Chowk Srinagar massacre where India’s occupation army killed up to 47 people and burned homes and shops in an entire suburb of Srinagar.

One of the most devastating incidents of its kind, on April 10, 1993, a large section of downtown Srinagar known as Lal Chowk was burned to the ground by Indian paramilitary troops. 47 innocent Kashmiri were burned alive.

In all, 59 houses, 190 shops, 53 stores where inventory was kept, two office buildings, five commercial buildings, two schools and a shrine inside the building were gutted by the fire.

“This is not the only incident,” Incharge YFK Publications Unit Shaista Safi said, “the Indian military and paramilitary forces had been systematically destroying houses, burning down shops, attacking shrines and even desecrating the Holy Quran.”

Incharge YFK Policy Writers Pool Syedda Mariah Atiq said, “Massacres like Lal Chowk are consistent with the policy of repression and subjugation by the government of India and its collaborators to silence the people’s resistance against the illegal occupation,” Mariah said.

YFK Director Ahmed Quraishi said Pakistanis should join Kashmiris in highlighting all the important days in the Kashmir freedom struggle against Indian occupation.

“Pakistan is one of those few countries in the world that continue to engage the world community on behalf of Kashmir freedom struggle. Together, the Kashmiri and Pakistani youth can take the story of Kashmiri freedom from Indian occupation to the next level,” he said.

The YFK is a grassroots lobbying group led by young Kashmiris and Pakistanis working to ensure justice to Kashmiris living under Indian-military occupation.

About YFK

Our goal: To help refugee families from Indian-occupied Kashmir, to organize domestic and international support for the right of Kashmiris to choose their destiny, to implement United Nations Security Council Resolutions on Kashmir. To ensure that the governments of Pakistan and India, and the international community, keep Kashmir at the top of their policy agendas.

Our organization: Youth Forum For Kashmir is Pakistan’s first pro-Kashmir, registered and non-political lobbying group run by Kashmiri and Pakistani youth. The group is a platform that unites the youth in Indian-occupied Kashmir with their counterparts in Pakistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir. The YFK is a grassroots lobbying group led by young Kashmiris and Pakistanis working to ensure justice to Kashmiris living under Indian-military occupation.