Saghar seeks world leaders’ attention towards worsening HR situation in IoK

Writes letters of felicitation to Iranian, Chinese president

Deplores dismissal of 11 Kashmiri from government services

Islamabad: Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) has sought world leaders’ pro-active role to address the dire political and human rights situation in the Indian occupied Kashmir.

In a joint communiqué addressed to the OIC Secretary General and the UN chief Mr. António Guterres, the DFP acting chairman Mehmood Ahmed Saghar said that the blood of innocent Kashmiris was being spilled over with impunity by the trigger-happy Indian forces. “Innocent civilians in particular the educated youth are being killed ruthlessly by the Indian forces during fake encounters, cordons and search operations that go unabated amidst the fresh tide of corona-virus”, he said adding that the targeted killing of Kashmiri youth amounts to systematic genocide.

Referring to settler-colonialism policies of the Indian state, he said, “Enactment of a series of anti-Kashmiri laws such as rebranding of demographics and redrawing of Jammu and Kashmir’s electoral map have instilled a fear of insecurity amongst the Kashmiris”. These laws, he said, were meant to change the region’s demography and to deprive natives of their resources, jobs, identity, cultural, land and above all the right of self-determination guaranteed to them by no less an authority than the United Nations

Terming these laws as a serious violation of the UN resolutions Saghar urged the world leaders to take effective notice of India’s settler colonialism drive intended to replace the indigenous population with a new society of settlers in the occupied Kashmir.

Referring to the 5th August 2019 move by the Indian state he said, “The move was a deep-rooted conspiracy to erase the Kashmiris’ political, cultural and national identity”. He maintained that the attempted annexation of Jammu and Kashmir has pushed the region into a quagmire of uncertainty.

Expressing deep concern over the lack of freedom of the press and expression in the IoK, he said, “Coercion, intimidation and harassment of political activists, journalists, rights groups and civil society activists, has been a hallmark of the BJP government’s Kashmir policy”.

Highlighting the plight of detainees the joint communiqué said, “Thousands of Kashmiris including pro-freedom leaders, social activists, lawyers and businessmen who have been arrested before and after 5th August 2019 continue to rot in highly congested Indian jails that have been declared as COVID-19 hotbeds”.

He urged the world leaders to influence the government of India to resolve the lingering dispute of Kashmir that happens to be the mother of all disputes pending between India and Pakistan”.

Meanwhile, the DFP leader extended his heartfelt felicitations to newly elected Iranian president Mr. Ebrahim Raisi on assuming the office as the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In a separate letter to Chinese president Saghar congratulated Mr. Xi Jinping on the 100th anniversary of the founding of Communist Party of China. He also thanked president Raisi and president Jinping for their continued support to Kashmir cause.

Regarding the dismissal of 11 Kashmiris from government services Saghar while condemning the Indian authorities’ move termed it as an act of political vendetta to strangulate Kashmiris economically.