Human Rights Violations In IIOJK Need World Attention: Analysts

Participants of a roundtable discussion the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) were unanimous in their opinion that the international community was not showing enough compassion toward the people of Kashmir who had been suffering under the Indian occupation since 1947

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Oct, 2020 ) :Participants of a roundtable discussion the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) were unanimous in their opinion that the international community was not showing enough compassion toward the people of Kashmir who had been suffering under the Indian occupation since 1947.

Research snalysts at IRS Humera Iqbal and Maryam Mastoor gave detailed presentations on the subject during the roundtable.

Humera Iqbal shared that October 27 marked the anniversary of the unfortunate illegal accession of the Muslim-majority princely state of Jammu and Kashmir with India.

She added that the illegality of the act was evident from the fact that Lord Mountbatten, while accepting the instrument of accession, clearly declared it was provisional till the final decision of the people of Kashmir upon normalisation of the situation.

She added that since India never allowed Kashmiris their internationally recognised right to self-determination.

Iqbal further shared that the Indian government, contrary to the wishes of the people of Kashmir, had recently declared October 26 as a public holiday to commemorate the state's illegal annexation. In her talk Ms Iqbal also referred to the arbitrary revocation of Articles 370 and 35-A of the Indian Constitution by the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its aftermath.

Maryam Mastoor, Research Analyst at IRS, regretted the continuous silence of the international community over Indian unilateralism which was visible in 1947 is still seen today.

She shared that, according to the BBC report , around 3,000 people had sustained eye injuries to pellet guns, locals calling it a "dead eye epidemic".

Referring to the figures provided by renowned Indian author Arundhati Roy, she said that 68,000 Kashmiris were killed, 10,000 disappeared, and 100,000 tortured since 1990.

Ms Mastoor was of the view that injustice and oppression begot rebellion. She referred to the cases of Kashmiris like Maqbool Bhat, Asia Andrabi, and Burhan Wani as examples of India stoking hatred and violence in Kashmir. "Burhan Wani's death resulted in widespread protests in the Kashmir valley, causing 2016 unrest in valley for nearly half a year in which more than 90 people died, while over 15,000 civilians, and more than 4,000 security personnel were injured," she said.

Ms Mastoor regretted the addition of Hindi in list of already existing (urdu and English) official languages of Jammu and Kashmir as well as the introduction of the new domicile law aimed at changing the demography of Kashmir.

Concluding the session, President IRS Amb Nadeem Riyaz stressed the need for highlighting the gross human rights violations of the Indian occupation forces in Kashmir at all available forums. He further stated that the atrocities of the BJP government in other parts of India against minority groups also needed to be highlighted to compel the international community to observe the reality of the Muslims of India in general and Kashmir in particular. "The world owes it to the Kashmiris to guarantee their basic human rights," he said.