In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the International Forum for Justice and Human Rights JK (IFJHRJK) has castigated the Indian government for ruining the careers of scores of Kashmiri journalists by either stopping them from travelling abroad or by summoning them to police stations for one or the other reason.
The IFJHRJK Chairman, Muhammad Ahsan Untoo in a statement issued in Srinagar said that the Indian government had been creating hurdles for the last several years for the Kashmiri students who wish to study abroad.
He said, medical students, who study abroad, particularly in Pakistan’s medical colleges, are denied the mandatory clearance, while many others are harassed and summoned for vague reasons.
Students, studying in various Indian colleges, have been thrashed and abused while a couple of them have been murdered, he added.
Muhammad Ahsan Untoo said, the importance of education as fundamental right has been emphasized in the Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as well as in the UN Declaration of the child rights.
Despite widespread agreement that all people have the fundamental human right to education, Kashmiris are deprived of this privilege, he added.
Criticizing the Indian government, he said that it had trampled all the human rights of the Kashmiri people, including the right to education.
For the last few years, particularly since the rightwing Hindutva party BJP came into power, Kashmiris have been subjected to inhuman treatment on all fronts, he deplored.
Ahsan Untoo said, there is an urgent need for a comprehensive response that addresses the political, social, economic and health challenges being faced by the people of Kashmir.
He urged the human rights bodies, including the United Nations, to take note of the rights violations in the territory and impress upon the Indian authorities to urgently stop harassing the Kashmiri students and restore the basic human rights of the Kashmiris.—KMS
