All Parties Hurriyat Conference Chairman Masarrat Aalam Butt has appealed the Kashmiri people to mark India’s Republic Day, Thursday, as a Black Day to convey a message to the world that they reject illegal occupation of their homeland.

According to Kashmir Media Service, Masarrat Aalam Butt in a message from New Delhi’s infamous Tihar Jail said, India being involved in war crimes against humanity in the occupied territory has no right to claim to be a democracy.

He called upon the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, to mobilize the international community towards the urgency for settlement of the Kashmir dispute.

APHC leader Molvi Bashir Irfani in a statement in Srinagar said that the word “democracy” is a mask on the true face of India behind which it is hiding its cruel imperialist face to deceive the world.

Meanwhile, Indian troops have intensified restrictions, harassment and intimidation in Srinagar and other parts of the territory in the name of so-called security measures ahead of India’s Republic Day.

Posters with slogans like ‘Kashmiris observe Indian Republic Day as Black Day’ and ‘Indian Republic Day is Black Day for Kashmiris’, are displayed by “Azadi kai Matwalay” on walls, polls and prominent places in different parts of the Kashmir valley.