Zubair Qureshi
Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Shehryar Khan Afridi on Saturday urged the United Nations and the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) to depute fact-finding commissions to investigate the cases of violence based on religion and belief in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK) in light of the successive reports of the Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCR) released in year 2018 and 2019.
Dismayed over the callous silence of the world over the ongoing bloodbath of Muslims in Kashmir, particularly the mysterious silence of the Muslim world towards the increasing acts of religious violence in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Afridi said it is time for the Muslims across the globe to rise to the occasion and raise the voice for their brethren in occupied Kashmir who are suffering at the hands of the Indian fascist regime.
Mr Afridi said that the Hindutva ruler of India has repeatedly inflicted violence on the majority Muslim population in Kashmir, locked mosques, banned religious organisations and gatherings under a double lockdown.
He said that the granting of domiciles to the Indian Hindus,l and granting them land for business is also an act of religious violence against the Muslims of the occupied territory.
Urging the leadership of the OIC to take necessary steps to address the issue, Mr Afridi said the global Muslim leaders should move beyond the customary statements and address the issue.
He said IIOJK has been a victim of violence based on religion and belief. “Prior to 1947 at the hands of Dogra Hindus who inflicted insurmountable violence on Muslim Kashmiris, banned Islamic rituals attacked Masjids, and converted them into barns. Those ‘violating’ the diktats of Maharaja were hanged,” he said.
He said after the partition of the subcontinent, the Hindu terrorists led by RSS goons massacred more than 3 lac Muslims in Jammu.
“Mosques were burnt and some were converted into temples. Over a million people were forced to migrate to Pakistan for their beliefs. Since then the Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir have always been at the receiving end,” he added. Afridi said the Indian state has been aiding and abetting violence against the Muslims in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
“Mosques are shut down for weeks, many times EID prayers are disallowed, seminars on religion are banned. The Jamia Masjid in Srinagar has been a primary target of the Indian fascist regimes. Since August 5 2019, only twice congregational Friday prayers were allowed in the mosque. in 2016 the mosque was shut for 18 consecutive Fridays, “ he concluded.
