Srinagar: Indian troops are mercilessly killing innocent and unarmed Kashmiri youth in fake encounters in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
Indian troops pick up unarmed Kashmiri youth from their homes, take them near the Line of Control and kill them in staged encounters. Indian army dubs the martyred youth as Pakistani militants to malign the Kashmiris’ freedom struggle and Pakistan. Pathribal fake encounter of 2000, Machil fake encounter of 2010, Shopian fake encounter of 2020 and Lawaypora fake encounter of 2020 are some glaring examples of the nefarious tactics being used by India to subdue the freedom sentiment of the Kashmiri people. Indian troops are killing the Kashmiri youth on daily basis to change the demographic composition of the territory.
The government of India through its occupying forces in Indian administered Kashmir is blatantly violating International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law by resorting to excessive use of force against the civilian population. Since 2000 – October 2022, 146 major fake encounters have been reported in the valley, in which 269 innocent Kashmiris have been martyred. India has extra-judicially murdered at least 666 Kashmiris since its unilateral and illegal actions of 5th August 2019, including around 144 this year.
The recent report on Indian disinformation campaign published by Stanford University on 21 September 2022 substantiates the fact that XV Corps also known as Chinar Corps, an Indian Army formation deployed in Kashmir, is involved in an online network of fake Kashmiri Twitter accounts spreading pro-Army propaganda to delegitimize the indigenous freedom struggle.
Recent killing of Muhammad Ali Hussain under mysterious circumstances at a location far away from the prison raised questions about the safety and security of more than 442 Pakistani prisoners in India. This extrajudicial killing of an innocent Pakistani prisoner reminds of similar state directed fake encounter of Zia Mustafa, from Rawalakot, who was taken out of the Kothbalwal jail Jammu and brought to forests in Poonch by the Indian troops and subsequently killed in fake encounter on 23 October 2021. India must be held accountable for its gross and systematic violations of international humanitarian law in Indian administered Kashmir.
The members of the UN Human Rights Council must adopt a resolution to appoint a Commission of Inquiry to probe extrajudicial killing of Kashmiris. India should immediately cease its systematic campaign of human rights violations in the Indian administered Kashmir, abjure its policy of state-terrorism, scrap the draconian laws in place in the Indian administered Kashmir and let the Kashmiris exercise their legitimate right to self-determination as enshrined in the relevant UNSC resolution.
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