SRINAGAR In occupied Kashmir, the people belonging to all walks of life have vowed to resist India’s plans to change the demographic composition of the territory. The Jammu and Kashmir Employees Movement Chairman, Muhammad Shafi Lone, the Chairman of Jammu Muslim Front, Shuja Zaffar, and the President of Mahaz-e-Azadi, Muhammad Iqbal Mir, in their statements said that right from the day when the Indian Army illegally landed in Kashmir, New Delhi had been treating Kashmir as its colony and Kashmiri people its slaves. They deplored that when the whole world was fighting deadly coronavirus pandemic, the Indian Hindu extremist rulers led by Modi were busy in making anti-Kashmiri and antiMuslim plots. The Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Freedom League at a meeting in Srinagar and the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples League leaders including Molvi Ahmed Rathar and Ahmed Sheikh addressing gatherings in different areas of the occupied territory appealed to the international community to put pressure on India to stop its nefarious plans to alter the Muslim majority character of occupied Kashmir. Meanwhile, Indian troops continued with massive cordon and search operations in different areas of Kupwara, Bandipore, Baramulla, Shopian, Pulwama, Islamabad and Poonch districts, amid strict lockdown in the entire territory, causing fear among the people. Indian police arrested at least thirty five people in different parts of Kashmir Valley on the charges of violating the restrictions imposed to prevent spread of coronavirus. The police also arrested four youth during house raids in Handwara and Sopore areas of north Kashmir and labeled them as overground workers of mujahideen. The occupation authorities intensified restrictions in the Kashmir Valley, today, to stop people from offering Juma prayers in mosques, dargahs and Imambargahs. The curbs were tightened in the name of containing the spread of coronavirus. On the other hand, a Public Interest Litigation was filed in the Indian Supreme Court, seeking directives to the authorities of Indian occupied Kashmir to restore 4G internet in the territory in view of prevailing COVID-19 pandemic. The plea was filed through ‘Foundation for Media Professionals’. APHC-AJK leaders, Syed Yousuf Naseem, Mehmood Ahmed Saghar, Abdul Majeed Malik and Shamim Shawl in their statements in Islamabad appealed to the world community to take cognizance of India’s anti-Kashmir moves in occupied Kashmir. The World Kashmir Awareness Forum in a statement in Washington condemned the Indian government’s recent attempts to change the demographic status of occupied Kashmir by introducing the tendentious and politically motivated rules in the territory, at a time when the whole world is grappling with a pandemic of epic proportions. The executive members of Organisation of Kashmir Coalition, Barrister Abdul Majeed Tramboo and Professor Nazir Ahmed Shawl, in a communication forwarded to the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, urged him to intervene in the critical situation of occupied Kashmir. They said that India’s actions in the occupied territory were absolutely contrary to and in breach of international and humanitarian laws and the treaties and conventions to which India is a signatory.—KMS
