Kashmiri activist condemns Pakistan’s Kashmir solidarity day as self-serving propaganda

Political activist from Jammu and Kashmir, Javed Beigh, has sharply criticised Pakistan for its annual observance of Kashmir Solidarity Day on February 5, calling it a self-serving propaganda event that holds no meaning for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

In a statement shared on X, Beigh slammed Pakistan’s continued use of the day to rally its citizens around the issue of Kashmir, arguing that it does little to address the actual concerns of the Kashmiri population.

Beigh lamented, “Pakistan has long used this day as a theatrical spectacle to project its narrative of support for the Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir, while disregarding the realities on the ground. This event is orchestrated purely for domestic consumption, with little to no regard for the millions of people living in the region who have no interest in or connection to this forced solidarity.”

According to Beigh, the overwhelming majority of Kashmiris, both Muslim and non-Muslim, do not care about Pakistan’s Kashmir Solidarity Day. Beigh further highlighted that even during the intense conflict of the 1990s, when the region was marked by widespread violence and insurgency, Kashmiri Muslims did not rally behind Pakistan’s calls for solidarity.

Beigh further condemned the issue and stated, “On this day, religious extremist organizations also collect “CHANDA” in the name of “KASHMIR JIHAD”, the posters of which can be found all over Pakistani Punjab province and Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). Moreover, the influential Mirpuri Muslim lobby in the United Kingdom pays few British MPs to issue anti-India statements on Kashmir.”

Beigh criticised, “99.99% of Muslims of the UT of J&K don’t even know that Pakistan marks 5th Feb as so-called ” Kashmir Solidarity Day. Even in the tumultuous decade of 1990s and 2000s, Kashmiri Muslims never gave a shit to Pakistan marking Feb 5 as “Kashmir Solidarity Day” and neither today any one in both UT of J&K and UT of Ladakh is either aware of such tamasha or gives any shit to this Pakistani propaganda.”

He said that Pakistan has misled its citizens about Kashmir, never acknowledging its role in fueling terrorism and religious extremism in the region, targeting Kashmiri Hindu Pandit community and their forced exile. According to him, Pakistan has set up terror training camps in PoJK and sending terrorists to spread violence in India’s Jammu and Kashmir.

In the statement, he stated, “The Pakistani state has fed its people on lies about Kashmir. It never tells them how Pakistani state infused terrorism and religious extremism in India’s Kashmir Valley that targeted Kashmir Valley’s innocent Kashmiri Hindu Pandit community and forcibly threw them out of Kashmir valley. It doesn’t tell them that Pakistani state has established vast and sophisticated network of terror training camps in forests of Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) to train and send poor Pakistani Punjabi Muslim boys to spread terrorism in India’s UT of J&K. The Pakistani state uses this day to brainwash its own people, especially Punjabi Muslim children to hate Hindus and Hindu religion.”