Srinagar, February 20 : The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has said that the Indian BJP government is continuing the illegal detention of Hurriyat leaders and systematically oppressing the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. APHC spokesperson Abdul Rashid Minhas, in a press statement issued in Srinagar, said that following the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A on August 5, 2019, the BJP-led government has taken illegal and brutal steps aimed at intimidating, suppressing, and silencing the political voice of the Kashmiri people. He stated that the APHC is appealing to the people to remain united and continue their struggle for their rights, without being misled by the BJP regime’s “so-called development,” peace statements,” and Hindutva slogans being promoted by the BJP-RSS nexus, particularly in the Jammu region.
The spokesman said that residents of the Kashmir Valley have expressed serious concerns over possible demographic changes, saying that New Delhi is settling outsiders in the region. He added that the demographic composition of the Jammu region has already been altered.
The statement also said that the BJP is using the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir as a testing ground for its military and Hindutva policies, adding that the government has deprived Kashmiris of their political and economic rights in an attempt to suppress their sentiments.
The APHC urged UN Secretary-General António Guterres to intervene on an urgent basis to facilitate a just resolution of the Kashmir dispute, warning that failure to address the issue could lead to serious consequences in South Asia, as the dispute involves three nuclear-armed states in the region.
The organization also called upon the UN Human Rights Council and other international human rights bodies to send fact-finding missions to assess the ground situation in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The spokesperson said that basic rights have been taken away from the people and added that ongoing cordon-and-search operations and house raids under draconian laws demonstrate rights violations by Indian forces.
The APHC demanded the immediate release of all Kashmiri detainees, including APHC Chairman Masarrat Aalam Butt, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Aasiya Andrabi, Fahmida Sufi, Pir Saifullah, Ayaz Akbar, Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal, Mushtaq-ul-Islam, Dr. Qasim Faktoo, Dr. Shafi Shariati, Bilal Siddiqui, Maulvi Bashir Irfani, and human rights activist Khurram Parvez, along with others currently held in various prisons in India and IIOJK. Source KMS