Western Democracies' Deafening Silence On Kashmir Could Quickly Become Untenable: French Daily

While highlighting the worsening human rights situation in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) including curfew, communication blockade and arrests, a French Daily Thursday warned that if the situation continued to worsen, the deafening silence of Western democracies could quickly become untenable

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Aug, 2019 ) :While highlighting the worsening human rights situation in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) including curfew, communication blockade and arrests, a French Daily Thursday warned that if the situation continued to worsen, the deafening silence of Western democracies could quickly become untenable.

In its editorial titled 'breaking the silence on Kashmir', daily Le Monde-Paris said with the communications blocked and detention or house arrest of nearly 4,000 people , the wave of anger had been steadily rising since New Delhi revoked the autonomy of Indian Kashmir.

"If the situation worsens, the silence of Western democracies could quickly become untenable," it commented.

A drastic and unprecedented curfew has been imposed in the Indian Kashmir Valley, which has been isolated from the rest of the world for almost four weeks.

According to the paper, Donald Trump had said at the G7 summit in Biarritz on August 26 that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, "considered he was in control of the situation," adding that he did not see the point in getting involved in the crisis.

On the sidelines of the G7 Summit, Emmanuel Macron also met Mod who apprised the former of " the changes that he had made in IoK.

The crisis in Kashmir was mentioned nowhere in the joint statement issued by France and India.

Macron however told the press that France would remain "attentive to ensure that the interests and rights of civilians were duly taken into account in the territories on both sides of the Line of Control ", namely India and Pakistan.

News from the region is scarce, which suggests the worst. In 2010, particularly atrocious forms of torture were revealed. Many cases of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions have also been reported since the beginning of the Kashmiri insurgency in the late 1980s.

On the eve of the announcement of the revocation of the State of Jammu and Kashmir's autonomy on August 5, New Delhi imposed a lockdown, blocking communications and restricting movement. Nearly 4,000 people have been arrested or placed under house arrest, including political opponents who are even in favour of joining India.

The fate of the Kashmir Valley is now in the hands of the Supreme Court. However, a group of UN experts was alarmed by the "disproportionate restrictions" imposed on the Kashmiri population, which they described as "collective punishment".