SRINAGAR Occupied Jammu and Kashmir has reported two deaths due to the ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus. A 60-year-old man hailing from Tangmarg area of Baramulla district died early this morning. A doctor said the man was referred from SMHS hospital and had tested positive only yesterday. At least 33 people have so far tested positive for novel coronavirus in the illegaly occupied land. Indian government has increased restriction in the forcefully annexed piece of land making lives of the residents doubly difficult. Doctors and paramedics in the landlocked region have confessed to the negligible healthcare resources available to them and demanded the world community to take note of the ongoing and persistent human rights violation. Pakistan has expressed deep concern over continued restrictions in the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir, despite so many confirmed cases and two deaths due to COVID-19. The Pakistani Foreign Office in a statement said, thousands of Kashmiri youth, members of civil society, journalists and Kashmiri leaders remain incarcerated in Indian prisons, many of them at undisclosed locations and away from their families. The Indian forces continue to operate in the occupied territory with complete impunity under draconian laws such as Public Safety Act (PSA) and Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA). “The senior Hurriyat leadership is under detention at homes or in different prisons. Hurriyat leaders Yasin Malik, Asiya Andrabi and others are languishing in Indian jails under fake charges without a free or fair trial. Yasin Malik, already suffering from deteriorating health, has threatened an indefinite hunger strike to protest against a false charge sheet by the Indian government in a 30-year old case.” “Since the Indian illegal actions of 5 August 2019, all educational institutions in IoJ&K have almost remained closed. The students are unable to continue virtual education due to continued restrictions on 4G Internet services. While the world is fighting the worst global health emergency, over 900,000 Indian military and para-military occupation troops continue adding to the suffering of innocent Kashmiris.” The international community, cognizant of the worst human rights violations and the atrocities being perpetrated by India in IoJ&K, must urgently demand from India the lifting of communication restrictions and allowing unfettered access to medical and other essential supplies, the statement added. “The Indian government must also be urged to immediately allow release of all political prisoners from Indian jails, end incarceration of Kashmiri leaders including the senior All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leadership, restore full Internet facility in the entire occupied region, remove PSA and other draconian laws, and withdraw occupation forces from the IOJ&K.” With three more patients tested positive for the corona virus in the Jammu region, the number of total positive cases in the entire occupied Jammu and Kashmir rose to 54. According to Kashmir Media Service, the authorities have confirmed that as many as 29 cases have been reported in the Kashmir valley. Two of them have died, so far. ‘No new cases in Kashmir Division; In Jammu Division 3 new positive cases,’ government spokesperson, Rohit Kansal, tweeted. So far, 12 cases have been reported from Jammu and 13 from Ladakh region totaling the number of corona virus patients in the occupied territory 54. —APP
