The activist said the resistance would continue till the Pakistani Army pulled out of the region

Recalling the invasion of Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan on October 22, 1947, Gilgit-Baltistan leader and activist Sajjad Raja on Saturday called for the day to be commemorated as the “Resistance Day.” He said that resistance will continue against Pakistan till it pulls out the army from the region.

"We shall commemorate 22 October as Resistance Day. Pakistan invaded J-K on October 22, 1947, and divided it, but our Resistance will continue till the day Pakistan is forced to pull out her army and all citizens from our state. A BIG NO to Pakistani occupation," Sajjad Raja tweeted.


In another tweet, the Gilgit-Baltistan leader said that October 22 should be commemorated as the Horror Day.

“No to Pakistani occupation. People of #Jammu & #Kashmir shall commemorate 22 October as the #Horror Day. We deplore Pakistani invasion of 22 October 1947 & shall tell the world that our #Resistance shall not stop until & unless we reunite our divided #Motherland,” he tweeted.

On October 22, 1947, just over two months after Independence, the erstwhile princely state of Kashmir was invaded by Pakistani forces, which later resorted to vandalism and plunder. It was on this day that Pakistan had launched Operation Gulmarg to attack Jammu and Kashmir and which left thousands of people dead.

Every year, October 22 is also observed as Black Day by Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) refugees in India.

The European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS), in a recent commentary, called October 22 as the "darkest day" in the history of Jammu and Kashmir when Operation Gulmarg was launched in a bid to seize the territory.

According to the European think tank, the tribal invasion had left between 35,000 and 40,000 residents of Jammu and Kashmir dead.

"The planners and perpetrators of the tribal invasion were, and remain, without doubt, the foremost enemies of the Kashmiri people. The day the invasion began on October 22, 1947, has to be the darkest day in the history of the J-K," the European think tank said.

“The invasion of J&K by Pakistan and its proxy tribal Lashkars in 1947 has left a deep, lasting, and grim mark on the fate of J&K, and indeed of the entire South Asian region,” the commentary noted.