Kashmir under Indian siege for the last 138 days

High Commissioner Mohammad Nafees Zakaria has said that apathy and silence of the international community is emboldening India to continue with gross human right violations in Occupied Kashmir. On the continuous siege of over four and a half months in IOK, he was  briefing the people from various Muslim countries who gathered at the High Commission to offer Juma Prayers.

Expressing solidarity with the Kashmiris, High Commissioner Mohammad Nafees Zakaria sought to invite the attention of the international community towards the plight of Kashmiri people. He said since 05 August 2019, in addition to media reports and volunteers’ accounts, many reports have been issued by independent human rights organisations documenting the atrocities being committed by the Indian occupation forces against the defenceless Kashmiris.

The High Commissioner said it has been reported that around 13,000 Kashmiri youth have been arrested and their whereabouts are unknown. Mr Zakaria warned that the international community must take immediate notice of the illegal detentions of the Kashmiri youth lest they also end up in mass graves like thousands of their brethren whom India killed in fake encounters in the past and they were later discovered buried in unnamed and unmarked mass graves. (Weblink:  http://www.mofa.gov.pk/documents/kashmir/BuriedEvidenceKashmir.pdf)

Mr Zakaria urged the gathering to pray for the Kashmiris and create understanding of the issue of human sufferings in the Indian Occupied Kashmir. On this occasion, a collective Dua was also offered for the Kashmiri victims of Indian atrocities.

Later talking to media, the High Commissioner said it is deplorable that gross human rights violations of the Kashmiri people are occurring continuously in front of the entire civilized world and standard bearers of human rights. Responding to a question about the detained Kashmiri youth, Mr Zakaria said that Indian Government has completely shut down the Occupied Kashmir and is hiding the exact situation from media as well as human rights organisations by not allowing them to visit the region. This is adding to the trauma of the families of the detained youth, he added.

The High Commissioner has been regularly expressing solidarity with the Kashmiris since the siege started on 5th August 2019 with unilateral measures by India to change the status of Kashmir in violation of UNSC resolutions on Kashmir and related international conventions. He has also been reminding that there is a trail of torture and atrocities duly documented by the organisations of international repute and INGOs such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, JKCHR, IPHRC, IPTK, etc.

On the occasion, photos depicting Indian atrocities against defenceless Kashmiris were also displayed taken from the authentic documented accounts. The photos of the victims of Indian atrocities, as documented by various international institutions and human rights organisations helped visitors understand the magnitude of the human rights abuses in IOK.