ISLAMABAD – US Democratic Congressman Tom Suozzi through a letter on socialmedia has asked US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to make Kashmir a majorfocus of the Trump Administration.
He said the action by the Indian government risks provoking mass socialuprising in the territory.
In occupied Kashmir, people could not offer Eid prayers and slaughtersacrificial animals on Eid-ul-Azha due to continued curfew andcommunication blackout on the eighth straight day, on Monday.
The entire occupied territory including Doda and Kishtwar areas of Jammuregion is reeling under strict curfew and communication blackout since lastMonday when India unilaterally revoked Article 370 of the IndianConstitution.
Eid prayers were allowed in only a few small mosques located in peripheralareas of the Kashmir valley.
As people came out of these mosques, they started shouting anti-Indiaslogans, which prompted the authorities to immediately re-impose curfew.
The political leadership including Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq andformer puppet ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Muftiare in house detention or in jails.
Meanwhile, the CPI-M General Secretary, Sitaram Yechury, has said that thepeople of Kashmir have been kept imprisoned in their own homes and warnedthe government that the impact of changing Jammu and Kashmir’s status wouldbe felt in other states with the special status.
He said the impact of undemocratically and forcibly altering Jammu andKashmir’s status will be felt in other states with special status.
Meanwhile, students from occupied Kashmir enrolled at the Aligarh MuslimUniversity boycotted a so-called feast organised by University ViceChancellor on Eidul Azha as a mark of protest against the abrogation ofspecial status of Jammu and Kashmir.
A group of Kashmiri Pandits, Dogras and Sikhs through a petition filed inIndian Supreme Court condemned the abrogation of Article 370, and askedIndia to immediately lift siege of the Valley.
The petition was signed by 64 civil society members, journalists andpoliticians.