Says India wants to hide its atrocities & brutal killings on the Kashmiri people by holding so-called & fake elections in Occupied Kashmir

BRUSSELS, Sep18 (SABAH): Chairman Kashmir Council Europe (KCEU) Ali Raza Syed has said that the Indian government wants to hold elections in illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir to form a puppet assembly that will validate its illegal actions about this disputed territory.

Ali Raza Syed issued a statement from Brussels regarding the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir which is illegally occupied by India since 1947. It has been said in the statement that India had dishonestly ended the special status of Jammu and Kashmir by terminating 370 and 35A on August 5, 2019 and then, New Delhi changed the domicile rules of the state so that it could change the proportion of the Kashmiri population by settling non-Kashmiris in the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Ali Raza Syed said that India is also misleading the international community by staging the state assembly elections’ drama, although one million troops are deployed in Occupied Kashmir and freedom of expression and independent media are banned.

Black laws are in force in the valley and key Kashmiri leaders and political activists are imprisoned in Indian jails away from their homeland Kashmir, including prominent Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik and human rights defender Khurram Parvez.

Ali Raza Syed clarified that the people of Occupied Kashmir understand India’s tricks because many Indian rulers, including Jawaharlal Nehru, have made false promises to give self-determination to Kashmiris. The situation in Occupied Kashmir is so dreadful that international human rights organizations and foreign journalists are not even allowed to go there.

Ali Raza Syed also said that elections under the Indian directions in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir are not a solution to the Kashmir problem, nor is this equal to right to self-determination. He further said that a plebiscite should be held in Kashmir through the United Nations so that the Kashmiri people can decide their own future. Kashmiri people are struggling for their right to self-determination and under the Indian constitution, any kind of voting or assembly elections is not equal to liberation of Kashmir.

Chair of KCEU said that India has illegal occupation of a large part of Jammu and Kashmir and Kashmiris do not accept this illegal occupation. Ali Raza Syed said that India wants to hide its atrocities and brutal killings on the Kashmiri people by holding so-called and fake elections in Occupied Kashmir and wants to give the impression to world that there is peace in Jammu and Kashmir and the democratic process is going on.

Ali Raza Syed said that international human rights organizations should take notice of Indian atrocities and referendum should be held in Jammu and Kashmir under the UN resolutions for the final solution of the Kashmir issue. India after a decade is organizing the assembly’s first election in the illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir in three phases – September 18, 25, and October 1.

In the last state’s assembly’s elections held in 2014, the BJP had formed a government in alliance with People Democratic Party (PDP) but the alliance fell apart in 2018 after prolonged disagreements.

In 2019, India’s central government changes part of the country’s constitution and downgrades Jammu and Kashmir from one state to two territories. The changes eliminate Kashmir’s right to its own constitutional authority, limit its decision-making power, and by modifying domicile rules of the state, India allowed non-Kashmiri Indians to settle there.