Mushaal Mullick raises alarm over escalating HR abuses in IIOJK
ISLAMABAD, Dec 10 (SABAH): Mushaal Hussein Mullick, wife of unlawfully incarcerated Kashmiri leader Muhammad Yasin Malik, grave concerns about the worsening human rights situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), as the region became a hub of violence, with Indian forces given free rein to kill, abduct, torture and abuse Kashmiri men and women.
In her address to the Islamabad Bar Council on International Human Rights Day, which was observed in both sides of Kashmir and elsewhere in the world on Tuesday, she emphasized that the people of IIOJK continued to face severe oppression at the hands of Indian troops.
Mushaal Mullick, who is also a Chairperson of the Peace and Culture Organisation, urged legal fraternity to play a pivotal role in the fight for Kashmiris right to self-determination, adding that their involvement could take the freedom movement to its logical conclusion. She stated that Kashmiri people loved Pakistan and they had pinned high hopes with Pakistan in their movement for independence. She highlighted that around one million Indian troops were stationed in the occupied valley, converting the heaven like region into a garrison city and slaughter house aimed at suppressing the Kashmiris’ just struggle for right to self-determination.
Hurriyat leader lamented that India was acting like a terrorist state under the fascist regime of notorious Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She pointed out that all Hurriyat leaders including her husband Yasin Malik were illegally detained in politically-motivated, fabricated and concocted cases. She highlighted that extrajudicial killings, fake encounters, arbitrary detention of human rights activists and the relentless campaign of killings became a routine matter in the region but the world community and human rights organisations did not utter a word against the Indian war crimes in the valley.
Musaal Mullick recalled that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted on December 10, 1948, and expressed hope that the international community would address its neglect of the human rights situation in Kashmir, as out of its 30 basic human rights, not a single one existed in IIOJK. She stated that the gravity of the situation was underscored by the fact that Indian troops martyred 96,383 innocent Kashmiris, including 7,370 in custody and fake encounters, since January 1989, which resulted in 22,980 women being widowed and 107,974 children being orphaned. Hurriyat said that the Indian forces personnel molested or disgraced 11,265 women and damaged 110,521residential houses and other structures, adding that Indian troopers subjected at least 8,000 people to custodial disappearance during the period.
She said that Indian occupation forces further accelerated their atrocities after August 5, 2019 uniliteral unlawful Indian act of stripping Kashmir constitutional status, as 950 Kashmiris including 18 women had been martyred, 246 of them in fake encounters and custody. Mushaal pointed out that the inhuman forces molested 135 women after during cordon and search operation and house raids in the period.
The chairperson appealed to the international community to take immediate notice of the brutal actions perpetrated by Indian forces against innocent Kashmiris. She reiterated that India’s oppression and suppression could not deter the Kashmiri people from pursuing their legitimate rights, as guaranteed by the international community.
Mushaal urged the UN and international human rights organizations to send teams to assess the dire human rights situation in the territory. She called for urgent international intervention to end Indian state terrorism and resolve the Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN-agreed formula and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.