In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, senior leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has said that the open threat of jails and incarceration to the Hurriyat leadership by members of the Indian ruling Bharatiya Janata Party will not change the reality that the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan needs a resolution. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in a statement issued in Srinagar strongly denounced the assertion of senior BJP leader Sunil Sharma that the Hurriyat leaders had only two options left, either to join the pro-India politics or go to jail. He said that the APHC resolutely stood by its principled stand that the Kashmir conflict had to be resolved, a fact admitted by both India and Pakistan.

“The resolution has to be to the satisfaction of the entire people of Jammu and Kashmir, the main party in the conflict. Hurriyat Conference seeks lasting peace and stability and good neighbourly relations in the region, an immediate consequence of the settlement of the conflict. Such belief is at variance with the hypernationalist outlook of the ruling dispensation in India at present, who have detained Hurriyat leaders, activists and others in jails or at their homes, for this reason,” he added.The Mirwaiz said the open threat of jail and incarceration by the BJP member was unfortunate and authoritarian. He said unlike such people, the Hurriyat has no vested interest or political ambition, it solely represents the aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir with dignity and goodwill towards people of India and Pakistan. The APHC leader deplored that arrests have been weaponised to harass people and instill fear in them.

He said, hundreds of Kashmiris irrespective of their age and background including religious scholars are languishing in prisons and detention centres under draconian laws awaiting trials that are delayed. He said condition of many prisoners who have been in jails for a long time is pathetic. Their health has considerably deteriorated and they have developed serious health issues leading to the death of some in recent times, he said, adding that repeated appeals to the Indian government for release of detainees are ignored. The Mirwaiz deplored that the youth in IIOJK is being relentlessly arrested under labels like over-ground workers, narrative militants, and militant sympathizers. He said in such a scenario, it is incumbent upon activists and rights organizations in India and outside, and the UN, whose chief Antonio Guterres recently visited India to take up this matter with the Government of India and provide respite to the people of the occupied territory.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP