PPP leader says Kashmir has become largest open-air prison
KMS data depicts shattered lives, stolen childhoods, broken families: Sherry
Islamabad: Reaffirming Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) unwavering commitment to the Kashmiri struggle, PPP’s Parliamentary Leader in the Senate, Senator Sherry Rehman stated that for the PPP, Kashmir is not mere real estate but an internationally disputed territory where one of the world’s longest forcible occupations has rendered history a silent bystander to a regime of genocidal brutality.
According to Kashmir Media Service, addressing a seminar organised by the Parliamentary Kashmir Committee, she said, “Indian impunity must not be forgotten, nor must this story of state terrorism be overlooked”.
Senator Rehman said, “Today, we gather not only in remembrance but in solidarity. The people of Kashmir continue to live under a brutal and illegal occupation. They wake up each day with the same question: Who stands with us? Our answer must always be clear – Pakistan stands with Kashmir.” She underscored that the suffering in Kashmir is not abstract but deeply human.
Citing documented figures from the Kashmir Media Service, she stated: “Over 500,000 Kashmiris have been killed since 1947. 3.5 million have been displaced. More than 168,000 have been arbitrarily detained since 1989. Over 110,000 homes have been destroyed, 22,963 women widowed, and 11,259 women have been subjected to rape or molestation as a weapon of war. More than 1,200 children have been blinded by pellet guns.” She added.
“These are not just statistics – these are shattered worlds, stolen childhoods, and families torn apart. These are the statistics of shame for humanity.” She described it as an engineered transformation of a Muslim-majority land into a minority-controlled territory through force and fear. “When such demographic projects were pursued in Europe by the Nazis during the Second World War, the world called it the final solution. We must call it what it is today as well.”
She stressed that these policies violate the Geneva Conventions, UN Security Council resolutions, and basic principles of human rights and international law.
She added that Kashmir has become the largest open-air prison in the world. “To live under this occupation is to exist under constant surveillance, fear, and trauma.” She noted that India manages to contain the narrative of its illegal annexation of land. “We don’t treat it as real estate; it is a land that belongs to its people, whose voices have been oppressed for generations.”
She condemned India’s demographic changes in Kashmir as state terrorism and racial colonisation, criticising the suppression of truth through restricted access for journalists and human rights observers. Urging global action, she called for an end to state violence, restoration of civil liberties, international access, and the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination as promised by the UN.
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