Srinagar, MTT News Desk: Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control and across the world will observe India’s Republic Day, as "Black Day" on Thursday to remind the international community that India’s continued denial of Kashmiris’ right to self-determination is contrary to its claim of being a democratic republic.

The day will be marked with complete shutdown in Occupied State of Jammu & Kashmir (OSJK) with all business establishments, offices, banks and courts remaining closed, while traffic will be off the road.

Call for the observance of the Day has been given by the chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APCH), Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

Syed Ali Shah Geelani, in his statement, said that Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had committed to the Kashmiris that Indian army would be withdrawn from the occupied territory and the people of Kashmir would be given the opportunity to decide their future by themselves.

Senior APHC leader, Shabbir Ahmad Shah said that the Indian armed forces had unleashed a wave of state terrorism to force people to participate in the India’s Republic Day celebrations. He maintained that India wanted to hoodwink the world into believing that the people were not against the Indian occupation of OSJK.

In New York, the Human Rights Watch in its World Report 2012 said that India had failed to repeal the widely discredited Armed Forces Special Powers Act in occupied Kashmir and to hold human rights violators accountable during 2011. About the discovery of 2,730 unmarked graves in Jammu and Kashmir, the report said, Kashmiris believe that victims of fake encounter killings or enforced disappearances might have been buried in these graves.

The Executive Director of Kashmir Centre London, Professor Nazir Ahmed Shawl, addressing a conference organized by the Islamic Human Rights Commission in London, said that genocides and genocidal acts were taking place across the world under the microscope of the United Nations and the international community.

On the other hand, one Indian trooper was killed and seven others were swept away by an avalanche in Keran area of Kupwara, today. Unidentified men killed a businessman in Pulwama district.