J&K DFP concerned over grim situation, plight of Kashmiri prisoners

SRINAGAR, August 19 (SABAH): Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) has expressed grave concern over the continued bloodshed and violence in the occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

The DFP Spokesman Advocate Arshad Iqbal in a statement issued in Srinagar said that the Narendra Modi-led fascist Indian government had intensified its brutalities against the Kashmiris to punish them for challenging India’s illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.

Referring to the killing of youth in Doda and arrests of five youth in Kathua district, he said Indian troops operating under the protection of draconian laws have unleashed a reign of terror in the occupied territory. “Innocent people particularly youth are being harassed, humiliated and killed during cordon and search operations”, the spokesman said, adding that extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, and killing of youth in fake encounters are being used by India as a war tactic to suppress Kashmiris’ legitimate struggle for right to self-determination”.

He said that the international human rights organizations must take stock of the situation and play their due role to bring an end to the brutalities being inflicted on Kashmiri people by Indian troops.

He also denounced the continued illegal detention of Hurriyat leaders, human rights defenders, journalists and civil society activists who have been arrested before and after 5th August 2019.

He said that the international community should come forward in a big way to help resolve the long-standing Kashmir dispute that has been the main cause of sufferings of the Kashmiri people

Meanwhile, reacting to the Indian Election Commission’s announcement to hold assembly elections, the spokesman said that such an exercise cannot be a substitute to a UN-promised plebiscite to determine the region’s future.

He said that an election drama being staged in presence of over a half million military and paramilitary forces was nothing but a futile attempt to hoodwink the international community on Kashmir.

Terming Kashmir as an internationally recognized dispute, he said that the issue needs to be resolved in line with the UNSC resolutions that guarantee the right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir.