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DFP seeks world leaders’ role to address IIOJK situation
Islamabad, April 09 (KMS): The Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) has sought the world leaders’ proactive role in addressing the dire political and human rights situation in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The DFP acting chairman Mehmood Ahmed Saghar in a communiqué jointly addressed to the leaders of P5 countries, OIC Secretary General and the UN chief, António Guterres, said that the blood of innocent Kashmiris was being spilled over with impunity by the trigger-happy Indian forces.
“Life for the people in Kashmir is getting tougher and tougher with each passing day. Innocent civilians, in particular the educated youth, are being killed ruthlessly by the Indian forces during fake encounters and cordon and search operations that go unabated amidst the fresh tide of coronavirus”, he said, adding, that Indian government’s antagonistic approach and senseless targeting of Kashmiri youth amounts to systematic genocide.
Referring to settler colonialism policies of the Indian state, he said, “Enactment of a series of anti-Kashmiri laws has instilled a fear of insecurity amongst the Kashmiris”. These laws, he said, were meant to change the demography of IIOJK and to deprive natives of their resources, jobs, identity, cultural, land and above all the right to self-determination guaranteed to them by the United Nations. Terming these laws as a serious violation of the UN resolutions, Saghar urged the P-5 countries to take effective notice of India’s settler colonialism drive intended to replace the indigenous population with a new society of settlers in the occupied territory.
Referring to the 5th August 2019 move by the Indian state, he said that the contentious move was an act of aggression and an outrageous assault on the rights of the IIOJK people. “It was a deep-rooted conspiracy to erase the Kashmiris’ political, cultural and national identity,” the communiqué said, adding that the attempted annexation of Jammu and Kashmir has pushed the region into a quagmire of uncertainty.
Expressing deep concern over the lack of freedom of press and expression in IIOJK, he said, “Coercion, intimidation and harassment of political activists, journalists, rights groups and civil society activists has been a hallmark of the BJP government’s Kashmir policy.” The continued illegal detention of political activists, he said, is a matter of serious concern.
Highlighting the plight of detainees, the joint communiqué said, “Thousands of Kashmiris including Hurriyat leaders, social activists, lawyers and businessmen, who have been arrested before and after 5th August 2019, continue to rot in highly congested Indian jails that have been declared as COVID-19 hotbeds”.
“It is high time that the world must take effective notice of the stepped-up human rights violations in the territory and influence the government of India to resolve the lingering Kashmir dispute that happens to be the mother of all disputes pending between India and Pakistan”, he concluded.