Masood condemns arrest of Zafar Bhatt, other Hurriyat leaders in IOJK
MUZAFFARABAD, August 20: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has strongly condemned the arrest of Hurriyat leader Zafar Akbar Bhat and three other Kashmiri leaders in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir on false and baseless allegations and demanded their immediate release.
In a statement on Friday, President Sardar Masood Khan rejected the baseless allegations against the Hurriyat leaders, Zafar Akbar Bhat of militancy funding and procuring medical education seats for the students of IOJK.
He said that these high-handed tactics of the Indian government cannot silence the voices for freedom and the right to self-determination in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
The AJK President also strongly condemned the demolition of two residential houses owned by Zafar Akbar Bhat and his family by the Indian occupying forces and eviction of the residents and called it open terrorism on the part of Indian authorities.
Sardar Masood said that despite the worst inhuman oppression of the Indian government, the people of Occupied Jammu and Kashmir are determined to continue their struggle till the desired goals are achieved and to offer all kinds of sacrifices for this paramount objective.
He said that the Indian repressive measures and ruthless oppression cannot diminish the spirit of freedom from the hearts of Kashmiris as they will neither accept India’s political writ on Kashmir nor they will bow to Modi and the RSS’s Hindutva ideology.
He called upon the UN Security Council to fulfill its promise made with the people of Jammu and Kashmir to hold a referendum to determine their political future. He also demanded an International Commission of Inquiry in the light of the UN Human Rights Office report of 2018 and 2019 to probe India’s excessive use of force and human rights abuses in Kashmir.
Describing the situation in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir very dire, President Khan very dire, the state President said by ignoring the Kashmir issue, the powerful nations which claim to be the custodians of international law are “underwriting impunity for crimes against humanity” in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
