MIRPUR(AJK): Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister, Chaudhry Anwar ul Haq has said that India’s systematic torture against Kashmiris was the biggest challenge to the world’s conscience.
In a statement issued on the occasion of International Day of Support for Victims of Violence observed on Monday, the prime minister, while referring to the use and abuse of power by the Indian occupation forces in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), said that human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir ranging from mass killings, enforced disappearances, torture pose a serious threat to the people of Kashmir who have been reeling under relentless oppression and barbarism over the past several decades.
He said that sexual violence was being used by the Indian forces as a means to punish and humiliate Kashmiris.
He said that Kashmiris were subjected to the worst mental and physical violence in torture cells and interrogation centers set up in the length and breadth of the valley.
“India has been using these colonial-era tactics to strengthen and solidify its illegal control over the territory of Jammu and Kashmir”, he said.
He, however, maintained that despite facing India’s worst violence and nefarious tactics, Kashmiris are determined to see their freedom movement to its logical conclusion.
The prime minister while condemning the brutal repression of Kashmiris at the hands of the Indian occupation forces, said that IIOJK had been turned into an open-air prison where Kashmiris were forced to live under the shadows of guns.
The Kashmiri leadership, he said, has been booked under Draconian laws and thrown behind bars.
“Kashmiri youths are being picked up from their homes and martyred in fake encounters”, he said, adding that secret burials of martyred youths in faraway places have become a new normal in Kashmir.
The prime minister said that there were thousands of unknown graves in IIOJK.
He said that thousands of women whose husbands have been subjected to enforced disappearances were living a miserable life. “They don’t know whether their spouses are dead or alive”, he said, adding that more than eleven thousand women have been raped in IIOJK.
The PM said that thousands of Kashmiris have been martyred in fake encounters. He said that the use of excessive force has caused a serious crisis in Kashmir. “Thousands of Kashmiris, mostly young boys, have been rendered disabled by the use of pellet guns”, he added.
“India continues to use violence as a state policy”, he said, adding that the international community should redouble its efforts to stop violence and bloodshed in Kashmir.
He said that the international community, especially the United Nations, should take notice of India’s inhumane and cruel tactics and play their role to save Kashmiris from Indian atrocities.