DFP concerned over deteriorating political, human rights situation in IIOJK
Islamabad : Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party has urged the international community to take immediate cognizance of the rapidly deteriorating political and human rights situation in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
According to Kashmir Media Service, DFP acting President Mehmood Ahmad Saghar in a statement issued in Islamabad today said the people of the occupied territory have been facing severe Indian state repression for more than seven decades. He said India continues to deny the Kashmiri people their right to self-determination in blatant violation of the UN Charter.
He said that instead of granting Kashmiris their inalienable right, Indian rulers have, over the past 75 years, attempted to crush their just freedom struggle through the use of brute military force.
Saghar deplored that nearly a million Indian troops deployed in the occupied territory are resorting to extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and the molestation of women to intimidate Kashmiris into submission. He said India has turned the occupied territory into a living hell for its inhabitants.
He said the territory has been stripped of basic human rights, adding that the entire Kashmiri leadership has been jailed under various pretexts to impose silence and project a so-called narrative of normalcy.
Saghar urged the international community to compel India to resolve the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people in order to ensure lasting peace in the territory.
He also expressed grave concern over the rising tide of xenophobia and Islamophobia in India, saying the persecution of Muslims and the humiliation of Muslim women have been normalised. Referring to a recent incident involving the removal of a woman doctor’s face veil by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, he said the episode, which shocked the Muslim community, reflected the extremist mindset entrenched in India’s political hierarchy.
“This extremist mindset has reduced religious minorities in India to second-class citizens,” Saghar said, adding that such incidents expose the hollowness of India’s claims of secularism and pluralism.
