Kashmiri delegation holds protest in Geneva against Indian atrocities in IIOJK
Geneva: A Kashmiri delegation staged a strong protest in front of the United Nations office in Geneva, denouncing India’s illegal occupation and systematic human rights violations in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the protest was held on the sidelines of the 59th Session of the UN Human Rights Council and was attended by members of the Kashmiri delegation, human rights activists, academics, and large number of expatriate Kashmiris and Pakistanis.
Holding banners and placards inscribed with slogans such as “Free Kashmir” and “Stop the systematic violence and bloodbath of innocent civilians in Kashmir”, the protesters called for urgent UN intervention to halt Indian atrocities in IIOJK and hold Indian troops accountable for their war crimes and human rights abuses in the territory.
Addressing the protesters, speakers urged the international community to pressure India to end its brutal repression in Kashmir. They pointed out that for decades, the Kashmiri people have suffered under relentless state violence as Indian occupation forces crush their legitimate struggle for the right to self-determination. “Tens of thousands of innocent and unarmed Kashmiris including men, women and children have been brutally killed, while countless others arbitrarily detained, and many imprisoned in jails far from their homeland under draconian laws”.
The speakers highlighted that since the revocation of IIOJK’s special status in August 2019, the Modi government has intensified its repression, turning the entire territory into a virtual prison, where its people have been stripped of their basic political, religious, and civil rights. This grave reality, they stated, has too often escaped the attention of international observers.
The speakers called on the UN Human Rights Council to exert pressure on India to release all illegally detained Kashmiri leaders and activists, including the ailing Shabbir Ahmad Shah and Mohammad Yasin Malik. They urged the United Nations to send a fact-finding mission to investigate the ongoing atrocities in IIOJK and also play its role in resolving the Kashmir dispute as per its own resolutions.
Speakers at the protest included former AJK minister Chaudhry Parvez Ashraf, APHC-AJK convener Ghulam Muhammad Safi, head of Kashmiri delegation Altaf Hussain Wani, Shamim Shawl, Sardar Amjad Yousuf, Dr Saira Farooq Shah, Naila Altaf Kayani, Mehr ur Nisa Rehman, and others.
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