Peace in South Asia depends on the Kashmir resolution

Foreign Office has rightly said that Pakistan’s position on negotiations with India remains clear, with the peace of South Asia dependent on resolving the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. Anti-Muslim violence broke out in Bharuch City, Gujarat, resulting in 2 injuries and 17 detentions on Tuesday night. The violence erupted after a gang of Hindutva activists attacked Muslims over the installation of religious flags in the Gokul Nagar area of the city ahead of Eid Milad. Under a registered FIR, at least 17 Muslims were put under detention. The incident occurred in a mixed-population locality, where tensions arose when some individuals began putting up religious flags and banners in anticipation of Eid Milad. This incident follows a similar clash in Surat city on Sunday, where 27 individuals were arrested and six minors detained after a violent altercation broke out in the town. Hindu activists belonging to different extremist organizations carried out a protest march in Dharamsala, the capital of Himachal Pradesh against the construction of a Masjid. Muslims of Simla constructed a Masjid after obtaining permission from the State Government of Congress. The Hindu fanatics while trying to stop the construction of the Masjid launched a protest. The protesters raised slogans against the current Congress government. The UN Human Rights Council has been urged to adopt a resolution to appoint a Commission of Inquiry to probe the ongoing extrajudicial killings by Indian troops with impunity in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Indian troops martyred two more youths in a staged encounter in the Nowshera area of Rajouri district this week, on September 9, 2024. A few days ago, on September 6, 2024, the report cited the case of Mohammad Manzoor from Surankot, Poonch, who died from injuries sustained during his torture by Indian troops. The report highlights the ongoing brutality of Indian forces, who often detain innocent youth under the pretext of links to resistance fighters, subject them to severe torture, and then murder them in cold blood.  Indian forces abducted Manzoor on the night of August 10-11, 2024, and subjected him to severe torture. Indian troops threatened his family with dire consequences if they spoke out against the custodial torture. A statement on behalf of the International Muslim Women Union at the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Wednesday urged the High Commissioner to address the grave human rights situation in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Ms. Shamim Shawl, delivering the statement, expressed concern that despite two reports by the Office of the High Commissioner and numerous information from special rapporteurs, the situation in occupied Kashmir remains ignored. She highlighted the detention of over 5,000 innocent people, including political leaders, human rights activists, and journalists, and the use of rape as a weapon of war. Shawl called on the High Commissioner to end the silence and urged India to allow a fact-finding mission to investigate past and ongoing human rights violations in Kashmir, emphasizing that accountability is essential to ensure the indivisibility, universality, and impartiality of human rights. The report also mentions the cases of Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails who have become victims of Indian troops’ bloodlust, including Muhammad Ali Hussain, who was martyred in a staged encounter in Arnia area of Jammu on August 17, 2022, and Zia Mustafa, who was killed in a fake encounter in Poonch forests in October 2021. Since 1989, 96,347 Kashmiris have been killed, including 7,348 in fake encounters and custodial deaths, in IIOJK. The report condemns the Modi regime’s granting of extensive powers to its brutal army to unleash bloodshed in IIOJK and calls for the global community to take cognizance of the extrajudicial killings of innocent Kashmiris.