Muzaffarabad:
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has urged the international community and the United Nations to help end the “cruel, inhuman and degrading” treatment of the people of Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir by the occupying forces.
He said in a video message issued on the occasion of the International Day in Support of Human Rights: “We fully agree with the statement of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, that those who practice torture should never be allowed to get away with their crimes, and that the systems that enable torture must be dismantled or changed.” Torture victims were spotted around the world on Friday.
The president of the association said that torture is a crime against humanity and is prohibited by international law and all religions. “However, this crime is committed every day by Indian forces and authorities in the occupied territories, in a more brutal and systematic manner.”
He appealed to the United Nations not to generalize and blur the focus on torture wherever it is widespread. He said that torture in occupied Kashmir is the most widespread and the most horrific.
“The BJP-RSS regime has committed torture by reoccupying and colonizing Jammu and Kashmir against the will of its 14 million people, dividing their state into two, and enforcing decrees whereby the entire region is now governed by a foreign capital, Delhi.”
While criticizing the Modi-led government, President Masood said: “As we celebrate this day, Kashmiri youth are being hounded and killed in cold blood in fake encounters, protesters are being blinded and sexual harassment is being used as a weapon of war.”
He went on to say that Kashmiris are being deprived of their homeland by bringing Hindus from all over India and settling them in the occupied territories through the new residency rules.
“Stripped of their permanent residency rights, Kashmiris are being deprived of their jobs, livelihoods, businesses and lands. Systemically, the demographics of the disputed valley are permanently changing.”
Prime Minister urges international community to hold India accountable for atrocities committed in IOJ&K
The AJK president said that what India is doing in the occupied area is a war crime in accordance with the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Statute of the International Criminal Court and international humanitarian law.
Referring to the arbitrary detention of political leaders and activists, he said that thousands of political detainees – illegally imprisoned – are subjected to brutal torture that in many cases leads to death and disability.
President Masoud demanded the immediate release of political prisoners in India’s Tihar Jail – Yasin Malik, Asiya Indrabi and Shabir Shah – and the release of Syed Ali Gilani and other Hurriyet leaders – hundreds of them holed up in overcrowded prisons.
He said that about 13,000 boys and children as young as 10 years old are being held in detention camps where they are subjected to torture and brainwashing, and called on the international community, led by the United Nations, to play a role in their release.
He also called for the need to demand that India repeal all strict laws that enable the occupation forces to commit crimes with impunity.
“Kashmiris are citizens of Planet Earth. Listen to their SOS cries. Save their bodies. Save their lives. Silence is also a crime while such massive torture is happening before our eyes.