Srinagar, Oct 13: Terming October 27, as ‘the darkest day’ in the history of Kashmir, the Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani Thursday urged the people to observe a complete shutdown on the day. 
 Geelani, according to Hurriyat statement, has also appealed to all the Kashmiris residing in Pakistan administered Kashmir, Pakistan, Britain, and other countries of the world to hold demonstrations on October 27, to draw the international community’s attention to the war crimes allegedly committed by the armed forces in Kashmir and raise their voice for complete demilitarization of the state.
 “Jammu Kashmir was an independent state till October 26, 1947, and India air dropped its armed forces on October 27, 1947, taking its control by dent of military might against the wishes of its people,” said Geelani, adding that “since then the people of Kashmir are struggling for the freedom of their homeland and the armed forces using every repressive weapon, killing people and perpetrating human rights violations to suppress their struggle and perpetuate the control,” Geelani said.
 Reiterating his demand for probe into the mass and unmarked graves by the United Nations, Geelani described it a human issue which the international community could not afford to ignore. He urged the United Nations to depute its fact finding team to Kashmir in the first phase to look into the human rights violations allegedly perpetrated by the armed forces. 
 Commenting on the news reports about the permanent settlement of slum dwellers in the state, Geelani, according to Hurriyat statement, said these reports were meant to mislead the people. He said, “What was the need for tabling a bill in the state legislature for settlement of slum dwellers when the fact remains that no original resident of this state is living in slums anywhere in Jammu Kashmir? The bill was tabled only to settle the non-state resident slum dwellers.” 
 Meanwhile, Hurriyat has warned of serious consequences if the government failed to expel all the non-state resident slum dwellers by October 20.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 13 Oct 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:00:00 IST