In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, human rights violations perpetrated by Indian troops, paramilitary and police personnel have reached alarming proportions since Narendra Modi-led fascist Indian government repealed the special status of the territory in August 2019.
A report released by Kashmir Media Service on the occasion of “International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims” being observed today, said though Amnesty International and US State Department’s annual report have been raising alarm about rights violations in IIOJK yet Indian troops, paramilitary and police personnel are arbitrarily arresting, torturing and killing Kashmiris on a daily basis during so-called cordon and search operations (CASOs).
It said over 96,000 people, including young boys and women, have fallen to the Indian bullets since January 1989 till date in IIOJK. It said India is using draconian laws, Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Public Safety Act (PSA) and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) to stifle political dissent in the territory. “Even human rights activists and journalists in IIOJK are not spared by fascist Indian regime. They are abducted, threatened and tortured simply for doing their job,” it said.
The report said said amid widening crackdown on journalists, India’s dreaded National Investigation Agency (NIA) recently arrested Kashmiri journalist Irfan Meraj in Srinagar. Later, a court in New Delhi sent him to 10-day custody of the NIA. It said that the Indian Hindutva government, while violating international laws, is not listening to the global calls to stop human rights violations in IIOJK.
The report maintained that the United Nations must take notice of grave rights abuses in the occupied territory and hold the Indian troops and all its men in uniform as well as the Indian government accountable for their crimes in the occupied territory.
Meanwhile, APHC spokesman in a statement issued in Srinagar deplored that India wants to crush the Kashmiris’ freedom struggle with military might. He appealed to the world human rights organizations to impress upon New Delhi to stop violating the basic rights of the detainees.
He said people’s struggles for the realization of their political will can never be crushed through force, illegal detentions and the use of military might.—KMS