Qaisar Mansoor
Despite UN and Human Rights organizations/ Watch repeated condemnations of Indian brutalities in IIOJK, Indian occupational forces are restoring to indiscriminate killings of innocent Kashmiris civilians to silence the voices of dissent and break the will of Kashmiri people to fight for their just cause of freedom from Indian occupational forces. Indian occupational forces are involved in extrajudicial killings of innocent Kashmiris in IIOJK with impunity.
At least 210 Kashmiris were martyred by Indian occupation forces in the year 2021. Dozens have already been martyred in first three month of year 2022. The Indian occupation army has intensified arbitrary detentions, night raids, coercion, harassment and humiliation of Kashmiris and extra-judicial killings in staged encounters and cordon-and-search-operations continue unabated. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has time and again voiced concerns over human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir. In October 2021, Bachelet also raised concerns over arrests of activists and use of vaguely defined laws to “punish NGOs for human rights reporting and advocacy that the authorities perceive as article in nature”.
Indian forces have broken all previous records of gross human rights abuses since 5 August 2019 when Indian extremist PM Narendra Modi’s government revoked article 35A and 370 of the constitution, which gave a special status to IIOJK. Recently, British lawmakers joined the Kashmiri diaspora on the international women’s day to submit a petition with PM Johnson’s office to urge the government to force India to end its siege of the IIOJK.
The lawmakers on 9th Mar 2022 call upon PM Boris Johnson to hold India accountable for its inhumane action in India Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmiri (IIOJK) and end its occupation of the territory. Twenty-one Members of the European Parliaments (MEPs) have written to Indian PM Modi and other top constitutional authorities in India expressing their concern about the treatment of human rights defenders in India, stating that activists have been “jailed for their peaceful work, targeted under anti-terror laws, labelled as terrorists, and are facing increasing retractions”. India has deployed more than 900000 troops in IIOJK (converting the valley into an open jail) and Indian security forces have martyred tens of thousands Kashmiris, including women and children through ruthless tactics like firing of pellets and extrajudicial killing.
Notably, Indian forces have been also availing various draconian laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Acts (AFSPA), Public Safety Act (PSA) and so on in martyring the Kashmiri people, and for the arbitrary arrest of any individual for an indefinite period. Amnesty Intl has also stated that it is “deeply concerned about the disregard for the lives of people in Jammu and Kashmir.
The right to life is laid down in major international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which India has ratified the language publicly used by state officials in Jammu and Kashmir betrays and strengthens disregard for the most fundamental of all rights”.
Pakistan reiterates its call on the international community to hold India accountable for its grave and systematic violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in IIOJK, which must be investigated by an independent Commission of inquiry as recommended by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in its reports of 2018 and 2019.
Pakistan strongly condemns extra-judicial killings of five more Kashmiris by Indian occupation forces in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). India should understand no amount of oppression and use of force can break the will of the valiant Kashmiri people who are resolutely standing up against India’s state-terrorism in IIOJK and struggling for their inalienable right to self-determination as enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
