In Geneva, Kashmiri delegation, briefing the members of the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation about the deteriorating political and human rights situation in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, has sought its intervention to help stop bloodshed in the territory.
According to Kashmir Media Service, during a meeting with IPHRC of OIC, the Kashmiri delegation impressed upon it to take all stakeholders on board to hold the Indian government accountable for its unilateral illegal actions on Kashmir.
The delegates said that the IPHRC should mount pressure on India to fulfill its commitments vis-à-vis the improvement of the human rights situation in the UN-recognized disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir, repeal all draconian laws and revoke all the actions it had taken on Kashmir since August 5, 2019.
Highlighting the Indian government’s repressive policies, the delegation apprised the IPHRC members that along with policies of oppression and suppression, the Indian regime has been using all brutal tactics to suppress the political dissent in IIOJK.
The delegates said the Indian government’s anti-Kashmir policies such as land grab, dispossessions, forced evictions and illegal confiscation of civilians’ properties and granting voting rights to non-Kashmiris have been central to the BJP’s settler colonialism project aimed at changing the demographic complexion of the territory.
Restrictions on civil rights activists, confiscation of property and harassment and humiliation of civilians by the Indian armed forces have become a new norm, they said.
On misuse of “anti-terrorism laws”, the delegation pointed out that the Indian government has been using draconian laws to silence legitimate political voices and all those who have been critical to India’s hostile policy towards Kashmiris. They added that detention of prominent rights activist Khurum Parvez and top rank political leaders should serve as an eye-opener for the world as to how India was using black laws in Kashmir.
The IPHRC members, including Dr Hacı Ali Açıkgül, Mahmoud Mostafa Afifi, Fahad bin Abdullah Al Ajlan and Dr Saqlain on the occasion assured the Kashmiri delegation that the IPHRC would use its diplomatic clout to bring world focus towards the abysmal situation in Kashmir.
They said that the IPHRC has time and again expressed its concern over the human rights situation in the territory. “We will keep on reporting to OIC Foreign Ministers and other relevant bodies regarding the situation in Kashmir”, they maintained.
The members of the Kashmiri delegation included Altaf Hussain Wani, Syed Faiz Naqshbandi, Sardar Amjad Yousuf Khan, Hassan Al-Bana, Dr Saira Shah and Zaffar Qureshi.—KMS
