Illegally detained senior leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, has welcomed the recent report presented to Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council denouncing wide ranging atrocities being inflicted by India on the people of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
In a message from New Delhi’s infamous Tihar jail, Nayeem Ahmed Khan said the report presented by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Ahmed Shaheed, was a true bill of indictment against India, which besides highlighting the other issues of concern takes the lid off the crimes Indian government and its forces are committing against the Kashmiris.
The APHC leader said, the references made about the human rights situation in IIOJK in the report serve as an eye-opener for the international community and influential world governments who choose to stay silent on the Kashmiris’ sufferings. He said that in light of the chilling report on the human rights situation in the occupied territory there was a dire need of enhanced vigilance and continued monitoring on the part of the UN and other rights bodies.
Nayeem Khan said that the blanket impunity enjoyed by the Indian armed forces under draconian laws was the main obstacle in bringing to book the Indian forces’ personnel involved in serious war crimes in IIOJK such as extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances and rape. He pointed out that the use of black laws like Public Safety Act (PSA) and Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) by the Indian government in the aftermath of 05 August 2019 has pushed the occupied territory further into a quagmire of uncertainty. The Modi government’s ruthless suppression of dissent under the notorious Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), he said, has left no room for the democratic dissent in IIOJK.—KMS
