By: Muhammad Zahid Rifat
October 27 is the darkest day in the history of Kashmir. Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC), in Pakistan and around the world as well as all the human rights organisations here, there and everywhere observe October 27 every year like this year as the blackest day of their history.
It was on this day, back in 1947, India had airlifted its forces and occupied the valley of Jammu and Kashmir after Hindu Maharaja Hari Singh, through an illegal instrument, had announced accession to India. One can sell land but not the people living on that land. But the Hindu Maharaja had sold the people of the valley of Jammu and Kashmir and the international community remained a silent witness to this wholesale selling of the Kashmiris then, and continues to look the other way even now.
