People in IIOJK are engaged in a struggle for the exercise of their United Nations-pledged right to self-determination. The Indigenous character of the Kashmir freedom movement is evident from the sacrifices rendered by Kashmiris daily. This struggle is a just struggle.
Human rights violations in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) by Indian troops have reached alarming proportions since the Modi-led Hindutva Indian regime illegally repealed the special constitutional status of the territory in August 2019.
However, international rights bodies have been raising alarm about rights violations in IIOJK, yet Indian forces are arbitrarily arresting and torturing Kashmiris during house raids and so-called cordon and search operations daily.
Nearly 96,292 people have fallen to Indian bullets since Jan 1989 until date in IIOJK. India is using draconian laws, including the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA, Public Safety Act (PSA), and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) to stifle political dissent in the territory.
Although the IIOJK human rights groups, and international human rights bodies reports have been raising alarm about rights violations in IIOJK Indian troops, paramilitary and police personnel are arbitrarily arresting, torturing, and killing Kashmiris daily during so-called cordon and search operations (CASOs).
The Hindutva Indian regime does not spare even political leaders, women, youth, human rights activists, and journalists in IIOJK. It abducts, threatens, and tortures them simply for doing their job.
Amid continued crackdown and house raids, the Indian Hindutva government, while violating international laws, is not listening to the global calls to stop human rights violations in IIOJK.
The United Nations must take notice of grave rights abuses in the occupied territory and hold the Indian troops and all its men in uniform as well as the Indian government accountable for their crimes in the occupied territory.
Meanwhile, APHC spokesperson Advocate Abdul Rashid Minhas in a statement issued in Srinagar deplored that India wanted to crush the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination demand with military might. He appealed to the world human rights organizations to impress upon New Delhi to stop violating the basic rights of the detainees.
He said illegal detentions and the use of military might could not crush people’s struggles for the achievement of their political goals. He added that the Kashmiris would stay united and would continue their struggle until the ongoing freedom movement reached its logical conclusion.
He said all outstanding issues between India and Pakistan, including the Kashmir dispute, can be resolved through meaningful dialogue.
After illegally scrapping the special status of occupied Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, the Narendra Modi-led Indian regime is hatching conspiracies and implementing Hindutva policies, one after another, in the territory to snatch the Kashmiris’ unique identity and culture.
The 5 Aug 2019 illegal acts were actually for depriving the people of IIOJK of their identity and homeland. It said that the Modi regime is hell-bent on converting IIOJK’s Muslim majority into a minority by settling Hindus from mainland India in the occupied territory. Moreover, after doing all this, Modi wants to establish Hindu civilization in IIOJK.
Preserving their unique identity is an issue of life and death for the Kashmiris. They are determined to protect their unique identity and culture, come what may.
India could not change the disputed nature of Kashmir by illegal and unilateral actions like that of 5 August 2019 and such actions cannot silence the Kashmiris’ cry for the right to self-determination. India must revert its 5 August 2019 decision to maintain Kashmiris’ identity until holding of UN-supervised plebiscite.
We urge the international community to impress upon India to withdraw its unconstitutional decisions of 5 Aug 2019 and resolve the Kashmir dispute as per relevant UN resolutions.
