Masood urges UNSC, rights organizations to help stop killing of youth in IIOJK

MUZAFFARABAD, July 29: AJK President Sardar Masood Khan has called upon the United Nations Security Council, its Human Rights Council, and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to help stop the killing of defenceless civilians in the name of terrorism in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK).

Condemning the recent incidents of extrajudicial killings of Kashmiri youths in Kulgam, Pulwama, Bandipora, and other areas of IOJK by the Indian occupation forces, the President said that the killing of youths by the Indian Army in fake encounters across the occupied territory is a matter of great concern to us.

“Thousands of people in IIOJK have been killed by Indian forces in custody, extrajudicial executions, and enforced disappearances and these human rights violations are committed with absolute impunity”, President Khan said.

He said that there have been instances where Indian soldiers have used their own agents to stage an attack on a military installation or army patrolling party to justify a false flag operation to target the Kashmiri youth.

The President said, 900,000 Indian troops had besieged the defenceless Kashmiris for the last two years in general and the last thirty years in particular and they had let loose the worst oppression against them.

Saying that the entire disputed state of Occupied Jammu and Kashmir has been turned into an open prison by the Indian occupying forces, Masood Khan regretted that the youths in IOJK are being killed, maimed, injured, and blinded every day for demanding freedom and right to self-determination.

“We demand to the international community, especially the United Nations, to act now to save Kashmiris from the scourge of annihilation. Stop sitting on the fence. Stop appeasing India. When the evil deed is done, wringing hands in contrition would be too little, too late,” Khan said.

He said that international human rights organizations like Amnesty International, ICRC, and other organizations should take notice of this situation because the Indian Army enjoys unchecked powers under black laws to lay sieges, carry out extrajudicial killings, abduct youths from their homes and make them disappeared.

“We called upon the United Nations and the world human rights bodies to put pressure on the Indian government for the release of all the detained Kashmiris besides ensuring the protection of their basic human rights, civil liberties, freedom of movement, and protection from illegal torture,” Masood asserted.