ISLAMABAD: The All Parties Hurriyat Conference Azad Jammu and Kashmir (APHC-AJK) chapter has described September 6 as a symbol of national determination, unity and bravery in Pakistan’s history, saying the sacrifices made during the 1965 war continue to serve as a beacon for coming generations.
According to an official statement issued on Friday, the Hurriyat leadership said that on this day in 1965 the Pakistan Army and the Pakistani nation demonstrated unparalleled patriotism in defence of their homeland and crushed what the statement termed the evil intentions of the enemy.
APHC-AJK Convener Ghulam Muhammad Safi, along with other leaders of the chapter, said in the statement that the martyrs of the homeland had created a bright history of protecting the defence, security and sovereignty of Pakistan with their blood. The courage and sacrifices of the ghazis, the leadership added, remain a beacon for future generations.
The entire Pakistani nation pays tribute to its martyrs and heroes and will always remember their sacrifices, the statement said.
September 6 is observed across Pakistan every year as Defence Day, marking the country’s response to the outbreak of full-scale hostilities with India in September 1965. The seventeen-day conflict was fought principally along the Lahore and Sialkot sectors and in the Rann of Kutch and Chhamb, and ended in a United Nations-backed ceasefire later that month. The two countries subsequently signed the Tashkent Declaration in January 1966.
For six decades, the date has anchored the national commemorative calendar, with wreath-laying ceremonies, military parades, change-of-guard ceremonies at the mausoleums of national figures, and school and college functions held nationwide. Political parties, civil society bodies and Kashmiri organisations routinely issue statements around the occasion — a tradition within which the APHC-AJK release falls.
Turning to Jammu and Kashmir, Safi said the hearts of the people of the disputed territory beat with Pakistan, and that Kashmiris had also made unparalleled sacrifices for their freedom, dignity and right to self-determination.
The relationship between Pakistan and Kashmir, he said, is not merely geographical or political but an ideological one — a bond he said Kashmiri people were strengthening through what he described as their eternal sacrifices.
Linking the two themes, the convener said September 6 carries the message that nations can confront the largest challenges through unity, determination and a spirit of sacrifice.
The Hurriyat leadership used the statement to renew its long-standing appeal to the international community, urging global institutions to take notice of what it called serious human rights violations in the territory and to play an effective role in securing for the Kashmiri people their birthright to self-determination in accordance with United Nations resolutions.
The APHC has consistently anchored its case in the UN Security Council resolutions of the late 1940s, which called for a plebiscite in the former princely state. India maintains that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of its territory and that the constitutional changes it introduced in August 2019 are an internal matter, and it rejects third-party involvement in the dispute. New Delhi has also disputed characterisations of the rights situation in the territory. The Lahore Times reports the Hurriyat position as the stated view of the organisation.
The statement lands as the commemorative season converges with Pakistan’s wider diplomatic messaging on Kashmir, which is typically amplified during September ahead of the annual United Nations General Assembly session in New York, where Islamabad has historically raised the issue.
For the APHC-AJK, tying Defence Day observances to the Kashmir question is both a message of solidarity directed at domestic audiences and a bid to keep the dispute visible internationally at a moment when the global news agenda is crowded by other crises.
Concluding the statement, the Hurriyat leadership paid tribute to all the martyrs of September 6 and said the day was not far when Jammu and Kashmir would be liberated from Indian rule and become part of Pakistan.
Defence Day ceremonies are expected to be held across Lahore and other major cities on Saturday, with tributes to the armed forces and the families of the fallen forming the centrepiece of the day’s programme.
Editor’s note: This report is based on an official press statement issued by the APHC-AJK chapter and distributed by INP. Quotations and attributions reflect the position of the issuing organisation. Background and contextual paragraphs have been added by The Lahore Times editorial desk..
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