Kashmir Day: Public holiday announced on Feb 5

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has declared February 5 (Monday) a public holiday on the occasion of Kashmir Solidarity Day, stated a notification issued on Friday, ARY News reported.

The State of Pakistan will observe a one-minute silence at 10am on February 5 (Monday) – public holiday – in a show of solidarity with the people of Kashmir in their struggle for freedom from India, according to the notification.

Conferences, demonstrations and events related to the day are being planned in cities across the country, which will shed light on the atrocities committed by Indian troops to sabotage the Kashmiri struggle for freedom over the past seven decades.

Kashmir issue remains a flash point between Pakistan and India with Islamabad constantly urging the world to hold a plebiscite on Kashmir.

Recently, the Indian Supreme Court ruled that Article 370 which guaranteed special status to Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) was a temporary provision and that the occupied territory was an integral part of the country.

The Narendra Modi regime in gross violation of the United Nations resolutions and international law scrapped Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution that granted special autonomous status to Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and imposed military siege in the territory on 5th August 2019.

As a result, the state of more than 12 million people was also split into two federally administered territories.

Subsequently, a batch of petitions challenged the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution and a five-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud heard the matter for 16 days and reserved its verdict on September 5.

While announcing the reserved verdict, Indian SC held that the occupied territory became an integral part of India “which is evident from Article 1 and 370 of the constitution”.

In its judgment, which was reserved in September, the top court said the Occupied Kashmir was an integral part of India, which had not attained internal sovereignty after joining the Union (India).