By Asghar Ali Mubarak
“Kashmir Solidarity Day” is not merely a date on Pakistan’s political calendar; it is an annual reaffirmation of a national position rooted in history, law and collective memory. Observed every year on 5 February, the day is meant to express solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir, to support their right to self-determination and to remind the international community that the dispute remains unresolved. The freedom of occupied Jammu and Kashmir continues to be among Pakistan’s foremost priorities, not as a rhetorical slogan but as a core element of its foreign policy and moral outlook.
For Pakistan, the observance of Kashmir Solidarity Day is inseparable from the lived reality of Kashmiris under Indian control. Reports of rising brutality by Indian forces, intensified since the unilateral actions of 5 August 2019, have reinforced a long-held conviction in Islamabad that oppression cannot extinguish a people’s demand for freedom. History suggests the opposite: sustained repression tends to deepen resistance rather than weaken it. The Kashmiri struggle, grounded in the principle of self-determination, has endured decades of military occupation, political denial and demographic anxiety without losing its central objective.
The importance of Kashmir Solidarity Day also lies in its reminder that peace in South Asia remains fragile so long as the Jammu and Kashmir dispute festers. Stability between two nuclear-armed neighbors cannot be built on coercion or unilateralism. A durable settlement, Pakistan argues, must be achieved in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolutions and the freely expressed wishes of the Kashmiri people. Anything short of that risks perpetuating cycles of violence and mistrust that periodically bring the region to the brink.
While the day has been observed continuously for the past 36 years, its origins are less widely understood. The modern form of Kashmir Solidarity Day is closely linked to one of the most traumatic periods in Kashmir’s recent history. On 25 January 1990, Indian forces opened fire on a peaceful gathering in Handwara, in the Kupwara district, killing at least 21 unarmed civilians and injuring dozens more. The protestors had assembled to denounce ongoing killings in the valley and to demand justice, only to be met with indiscriminate force. Coming in the wake of the Gawkadal massacre, the Handwara killings deepened a sense among Kashmiris that even mourning had been criminalized. As with so many such incidents, there was no independent investigation and no accountability, embedding the tragedy into Kashmir’s collective memory.
Expressions of solidarity with Kashmir, however, predate both 1990 and the creation of Pakistan. Historical evidence suggests that such observances existed as early as 1932 in undivided Punjab, though they were intermittent and lacked a fixed date. After Pakistan’s creation, solidarity continued in various forms. In 1975, following the Indira Gandhi–Sheikh Abdullah accord, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto declared 28 February a day of solidarity with Kashmiris, an initiative reportedly marked by nationwide protests. Among those who encouraged Bhutto were Jamaat-e-Islami leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed and the then president of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan.
The decision to fix 5 February as Kashmir Solidarity Day came in 1990, at a time when the uprising in Indian-administered Kashmir was gaining momentum. Disillusioned by the failure of political processes, many Kashmiri youths had turned to armed resistance, and reports of killings, mass arrests and displacement were becoming routine. Qazi Hussain Ahmed, in consultation with Punjab chief minister Nawaz Sharif, announced that 5 February would be observed as a day of solidarity with Kashmir. Facing mounting pressure, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto endorsed the move, and the date soon became a fixture of Pakistan’s political life. Official state observance followed in 2004, when Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali addressed a joint session in Muzaffarabad, institutionalizing the tradition.
In recent years, Kashmir Solidarity Day has taken on renewed urgency. India’s revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in August 2019 marked a profound shift, accompanied by prolonged lockdowns, mass detentions and legal changes aimed at altering the region’s demographic character. Restrictions on movement, communication and political activity remain severe, while allegations of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and custodial torture persist. Pakistan argues that these measures represent a systematic attempt to suppress Kashmiri identity and render the Muslim-majority population a minority in its own land.
The broader historical context underscores why Kashmir remains resistant to imposed solutions. For centuries, the region evolved through successive political orders, from the Shah Mir dynasty to Mughal, Afghan and Sikh rule, before falling under Dogra control through the Treaty of Amritsar in 1846. The sale of Kashmir by the British to Gulab Singh, against the will of its overwhelmingly Muslim population, sowed the seeds of modern discontent. The accession of Maharaja Hari Singh to India in October 1947, carried out amid communal violence and without popular consent, internationalized the dispute and led to United Nations involvement. The promised plebiscite, enshrined in UN resolutions, remains unfulfilled nearly eight decades later.
(The writer is a senior journalist covering various beats, can be reached at editorial@metro-morning.com)
