India bars Muslims from offering Eid ul Adha prayers in occupied Kashmir

The Modi-led Indian government on Saturday barred Muslims from offering Eid-ul-Adha prayers as the regime’s oppressive measures continue in the disputed valley.

India revoked Article 370 of the Indian constitution on August 5, 2019, and has imposed restriction in the valley ever since, repeatedly shutting down mobile and internet services.

In the administration’s bid to stop Muslims from offering their prayers, authorities placed locks on mosques' doors, set up barriers, and blocked the roads with barbed wires.

People were forced to stay indoors after police announced on loudspeakers, early morning, that people should stay inside their houses on the occasion of the religious event. 

Meanwhile, due to restrictions, the ritual of sacrifice was held on a limited scale.

'Pakistan will stand with Kashmiris till final victory'

Yesterday, foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had reaffirmed Pakistan's support for the Kashmiris' struggle for independence from Indian rule and said that the country will stand by the people of the besieged valley till its final victory.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, the federal minister regretted that no one other than the Kashmiris themselves know exactly what has happened during the past one year of the brutal clampdown in the Himalayan region by Indian occupation forces.

"To date, Kashmir suffers a communication blackout and basic human rights violations," the minister regretted.

After the coronavirus, the minister said that the world ought to understand what it feels like to live under lockdown and to endure forceful restrictions. He highlighted that Kashmiris have been enduring a "double lockdown" (the coronavirus lockdown as well as restrictions imposed by Indian occupation forces) for a year.