India has turned occupied Jammu and Kashmir into a open prison

Islamabad: Syed Faiz Naqshbandi, Convener All Parties Hurriyet Conference (APHC) led by incarcerated Chairman Mirwaiz Dr Umar Farooq addressed OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir Virtual Emergency Meeting held at the Foreign Ministers Level while OIC Secretary General in Chair and said that India has turned occupied Kashmir into a huge prison where everyone is under arrest and no one can get out of homes even in emergencies.

Naqshbandi said, since India’s illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019, it has maintained a suffocating, inhuman lockdown and communication blockade in occupied Kashmir that has bought daily life to a standstill. The lockdown had cost 2.4 billion dollars by the end of last year alone. India has done this to quash justified dissent and resistance that it anticipated in response to its illegal actions. Tens of thousands of additional occupation troops have been deployed in Indian occupied Jammu & Kashmir which was already the most militarized zone in the world. As of today, there is one Indian soldier for every eight Kashmiris,” he added.

Syed Faiz Naqshbandi said that since August 5th 2019, All Parties Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Dr Muhammad Umar Farooq, and Syed Ali Gillani, are under continuous illegal house arrest under Indian army surveillance. Demand for their immediate release was made in the conference. He pointed out that tor 10 long months, women, children; the elderly and sick had been unable to access hospitals, medicines and food supplies.

He said that the Indian government had used COVID-19 as an excuse to extend its illegal lockdown under false pretexts. In reality, he said, India is intensifying its repression through fake encounters, extrajudicial killings and thousands of our young boys have been abducted and taken to unknown locations, where they have been subjected to torture. Twenty-four innocent Kashmiri civilians have been martyred in the past few weeks alone, he added.

Despite the live threat of COVID-19, Hurriyat Leaders Mohammad Yasin Malik, Aaysia Andrabi, Shabbir Ahmed Shah and other Hurriyat leaders Including thousands of innocent Kashmiris men, women and children are languishing in different Indian jails – are in very pathetic conditions.

Syed Faiz Naqshbandi said by exploiting the focus of international community on the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, India has announced new domicile laws in occupied Kashmir. He added these laws are aimed at changing the demographics of occupied Jammu which is overwhelming Muslim majority. This is clear violation of the United Nations Security Council resolutions, OIC resolutions and international law – specifically the 4th Geneva Convention, he maintained.

He also appreciated consistent support of OIC on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and urged the brotherly Muslim countries to redouble their political and diplomatic support to advance the Kashmir cause.

The Contact Group of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Jammu and Kashmir has expressed deep concern over the worsening human rights and humanitarian situation in occupied Kashmir and demanded of India to stop any move towards changing the demographic structure of the held territory as they are illegal and in violation of international law.

Joint communique was issued after the Group’s virtual emergency meeting. The members rejected the newly-notified “Jammu & Kashmir Reorganization Order 2019” and “Jammu & Kashmir Grant of Domicile Certificate Rules 2020” aimed at changing the demographic structure of Occupied Kashmir.

The communique affirmed that Indian actions of 5th of August last year and new domicile rules are in complete violation of the UNSC resolutions, international law including the 4th Geneva Conventions, and India’s own solemn commitments to implement UNSC resolutions.

It welcomed the two reports issued by the office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in June 2018 and July 2019 comprehensively documenting the gross and systematic violations of human rights in held territory.

The forum deplored the extended, months long, lockdown of the Kashmiri people and communications blackout since 5th August last year, suppression of Kashmiris through arbitrary detentions and fake “encounters” against armless Kashmiris.

It expressed concern over India’s intensified ceasefire violations on the Line of Control, resulting in deaths and injuries to civilian population particularly women and children.

The gathering called upon the OIC Member States to raise the Kashmir dispute in their bilateral engagements with India with a view to safeguarding the fundamental human rights of the Kashmiri people in the occupied territory, and ensuring expeditious implementation of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.