Shabir Ahmed Shah urges world bodies to help stop bloodshed & violence in Kashmir

SRINAGAR, Dec 11, (SABAH): Senior All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leader and Chairman Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) Shabir Ahmed Shah has urged the world human rights organisations to take effective notice of the fast deteriorating political and human rights situation in the Indian occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

In his message from Tihar jail the incarcerated Hurriyat leader said that while civilized nations across the globe observed 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Kashmiris in the Indian held territory of Jammu and Kashmir have been facing brutal suppression and worst kind of human rights abuses at the hands of the occupation troops for the last seven decades.

“It is heartening to see that over the past 75 years many nations have made great progress in making human rights a reality but for the hapless people of Kashmir, who have been reeling under the yoke of oppression and suppression at the hands of Indian imperialism, the words like human and human rights have become absolutely meaningless”, Shabir Ahmed Shah said.

“India, which claims to be the world’s largest democracy has usurped Kashmiris’ fundamental right, the right to self-determination, which is tantamount to an outrageous assault and an infringement on the essence of the UN charter and universally established principles of humanitarian law”, he said adding that the India’s continuous denial to grant Kashmiris’ their birth right had prevented the habitants of disputed territory from enjoying the fruits of liberty, experience of dignity and full benefits of freedom as enshrined in the UN charter, the Geneva convention and other core international human rights treaties.

Shabir Ahmed Shah said that instead of reflecting a genuine desire to grant Kashmiris their promised right the Indian rulers over the past 75 years tried to crush the Kashmiris’ legitimate struggle for right to self-determination by using its military might.

“For that matter, India deployed massive troops in the disputed state (Kashmir), whose number have now swelled to over half a million”, Shah said, adding that by resorting to extra-judicial killings, detentions, massacres, targeted killings; sieges, torture, enforced-disappearances, rape and molestation of women, these trigger-happy forces operating under the shield of host of draconian laws have turned Kashmir into a virtual hell by killing hundreds and thousands of innocent people.

He said that since 5th August 2019, Kashmir has been turned into a hell for its residents who have been denied of every right. The suffocating conditions in which Kashmiris are forced to live, he said, were a greatest challenge for world conscience. “Kashmir is the only place in the world where people live without human rights”, Shah said.

Shabir Ahmed Shah urged the world human rights bodies to take effective cognizance of the matter and impress upon India to restore fundamental freedoms in Kashmir in order to pave the way for amicable settlement of the lingering dispute that has main cause and consequence of bloodshed and violence in the region.