APHC appeals to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to pressure India for release of illegally detained Hurriyat leaders

SRINAGAR, Sep 27 (SABAH): In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference has made an appeal to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, urging him to pressure India for the release of illegally detained Hurriyat leaders and activists and to facilitate a resolution to the Kashmir dispute in line with the Security Council resolutions.

According to media reports in a statement issued in Srinagar, APHC spokesperson Advocate Abdul Rashid Minhas highlighted that India has imprisoned over five thousand Kashmiris, including prominent Hurriyat leaders, activists, lawyers, journalists, students, and human rights advocates on baseless charges.

He mentioned that among those illegally detained are APHC chairman Masarrat Alam Butt, Shabir Ahmed Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Asiya Andrabi, Dr. Muhammad Qasim Faktoo, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Nahida Nasreen, Fahmida Sofi, Ayaz Muhammad Akbar, Peer Saifullah, Raja Miraj-ud-Din Kalwal, Shahidul Islam, Dr. Abdul Hamid Fayaz, Farooq Ahmed Dar, Bilal Siddiqi, Molvi Bashir Ahmed Irfani, Advocate Mian Abdul Qayyum, Advocate Nazir Ahmed Ronga, Advocate Muhammad Ashraf Butt, Advocate Muzaffar Qayyum, Advocate Zahid Ali, and others.

Minhas emphasized that these detainees are deprived of essential facilities, including medical care, within jails in India and IIOJK, and their unlawful detention is being extended through dubious tactics. He underscored that these leaders are facing victimization for challenging the illegal occupation of their homeland.

The spokesperson lamented that India has turned the entire occupied Jammu and Kashmir into a military camp, where its forces perpetrate severe atrocities against innocent Kashmiris. He condemned the egregious human rights violations occurring in the territory, asserting that India is flagrantly violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Furthermore, the APHC spokesperson urged the international community to take note of the harmful agenda of the BJP and RSS and to intervene to safeguard Kashmiris from the detrimental actions of these Hindutva organizations.

Meanwhile, All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader Farida Behanji in a statement in Srinagar, welcoming the declaration of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Coordination Group on Kashmir, said the position of Kashmiris has been fully represented in the declaration. She also termed the sham elections in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir as an attempt to mislead the international community.