The All Parties Hurriyat Conference has reiterated the urgency of resolving the Kashmir dispute through a sustained dialogue between Pakistan and India, emphasizing its crucial role in fostering peace in the region.
According to Kashmir Media Service, APHC spokesperson, Advocate Abdul Rasheed Minhas, speaking to the media in Srinagar, paid heartfelt tributes to Rizwan Ahmed Pandit, the principal of a local school, on the occasion of his 5th martyrdom anniversary. Pandit lost his life to severe torture inflicted upon him by Indian troops on March 18, 2019 while in Indian custody, a grim reminder of the grave human rights violations endured by Kashmiris.
After Rizwan’s death, his brother Mubashar Hassan had told media that “The torture marks on his body were completely visible. His left eye was completely black and the left side of his face had swelled up. He also had a head injury and there were two stitches on his head. His thighs were completely tortured. There were burn marks and cuts on them.”
The APHC spokesman said Rizwan Ahmed Pandit’s arrest and subsequent custodial death underscore the harrowing reality of extrajudicial killings and torture inflicted upon innocent civilians in occupied Kashmir. Minhas lamented the alarming prevalence of such atrocities, particularly during the tumultuous 1990s when Kashmiris fervently pursued their right to self-determination.
Highlighting the ongoing plight faced by Kashmiris, the spokesman condemned the reprehensible custodial killing of Rizwan Ahmed Pandit.
He decried the continued silence of the global community towards the systematic human rights abuses perpetrated in occupied Kashmir.
The APHC stressed that the resolution of the Kashmir dispute is indispensable, not only for regional peace and stability but also in light of its increasing significance on the global political stage.—KMS
