Chairman Kashmir Council Europe (KCEU), Ali Raza Syed had said that recently released report of Human Rights Watch (HRW), the international human right organization correctly verified the large scale human rights violations committed by the Indian forces in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). It should be mentioned here that HRC in its report regarding Jammu and Kashmir, has declared that Indian authorities continued to restrict free expression, peaceful assembly, and other rights in Jammu and Kashmir in year 2023. Declaring the Indian armed forces accountable for grave human rights abuses, the HRW also confirmed the reports of continuation of extrajudicial killings by Indian security forces throughout the previous year (2023). The HRW’s report described that the Kashmiri critics and human rights defenders faced arrests and raids based on spurious terrorism allegations. The report gives example of detained prominent Kashmiri human rights activist Khurram Parvez and Irfan Mehraj, a journalist (formerly affiliated with Parvez’s humanitarian efforts) who were arrested under the colonial-era Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). Chairman KCEU Ali Raza Syed in a statement appreciated the HRW’s report and said, the human right organization rightly confirmed the severe human rights violations in the occupied Kashmir.

He said that the IIOJK where the Indian authorities restricted freedom of expression, peaceful protest and gathering as people of this part of Jammu and Kashmir live with a number of hardships and miseries. The oppressed Kashmiris face extra judicial killing, target killings, forced disappearances and sexual assaults on women by the occupation forces. Chair of KCEU also condemned the Indian foreign ministry’s statement opposing the recent visit of two British diplomats to Azad Kashmir. Indian foreign ministry raised an objection with the United Kingdom (UK) over the visit of British High Commissioner to Pakistan Jane Marriott along with an official from the UK’s Foreign Office on Jan. 10 to Azad Kashmir as saying Jammu and Kashmir is integral part of India and this visit is “infringement” of India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and is “unacceptable”. Ali Raza Syed said, entire Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized disputed territory and is not integral part of India. According to Chair of KECU, the Indian claim of Jammu and Kashmir as its integral part is totally false and violation of resolution of the United Nations on Kashmir dispute. He said, India forcibly entered its military forces to large part of Jammu and Kashmir on 27th October 1947 and since then, the said part of this territory was being called Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)