Srinagar
In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference has said that India continues to take the entire Kashmiri population hostage over the past seven decades for demanding the universally accepted right to self-determination.
APHC General Secretary Molvi Bashir Ahmad in a statement issued in Srinagar said that New Delhi had, so far, martyred tens of thousands of Kashmiris to deprive them of this basic right and to hold its illegal occupation over Jammu and Kashmir. He said that innocent youth are martyred, arrested, tortured and houses and infrastructures are destroyed during cordon and search operations carried out by Indian troops in the territory. He pointed out that fascist Modi-led Indian government has intensified its colonial approach towards the Kashmiri people particularly after revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019.
Meanwhile, the Forum for Human Rights in Jammu and Kashmir, an independent body, in its latest report on the rights situation in IIOJK has said that serious human rights violations are going on unabated even after 18 months of abrogation of the special status of the territory. The forum, co-chaired by former Indian Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B. Lokur and former Kashmir interlocutor Radha Kumar, in its report, pointed out that arbitrary detentions continue while public assembly is prohibited under Section 144 and hundreds including minors remain under detention. It said, there is a near-total alienation of the people of the Kashmir Valley from India, adding that people have serious concerns over new domicile rules and land laws.
Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference Chairman Shabbir Ahmad Dar in a letter to US President Joe Biden called upon him to address the question of the right of self-determination on priority basis. He hoped that the US President would encourage the leaders of India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute on the principle of right to self-determination.
APHC leader Khawaja Firdous in a statement in Srinagar said that India was once again trying to mislead the international community by sending selected diplomats to the occupied territory in the supervision of its military. He urged New Delhi to allow delegations from the United Nations and international human rights organizations to visit the territory to freely interact with Kashmiri people.
Hurriyat leader Abdul Samad Inqilabi, Aqib Wani and Jammu and Kashmir Peoples League in their statements demanded the release of all Kashmiri prisoners from jails. They deplored that the detainees are even deprived of basic human rights by the jail authorities.—KMS
