Kashmiri leaders present memo to Boris Johnson over IOK situation

Tehreek-e-Kashmir chief says India spends poverty alleviation money given by UK on military operations in IOK

LONDON: Kashmiri leaders across the Line of Control (LoC) on Tuesday presented a memorandum to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson at 10 Downing Street to garner his attention over the gross human rights violation in occupied Kashmir.

Leaders of the occupied valley, along with the public – including spiritual leaders, religious scholars, politicians, educationists, social and human rights activists – were present when the memorandum was handed over to the British premier.

Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement (JKSM) and senior Hurriyat leader Altaf Ahmad Bhatt expressed concern over the humanitarian crisis in Indian Occupied Kashmir and hoped the British premier would pay attention to it.

He called on the international community to join Pakistan and Kashmir in protesting against the Indian brutalities.

“Modi has converted paradise into the largest prison in the world,” said the Hurriyat leader, adding that New Delhi wants to break the will of the Kashmiri people through economic terrorism.

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He also noted that people of the occupied region are facing the worst shortage of food and medicines, adding that hospitals are full of injured youth affected by anti-Indian protests since August 5 following the abrogation of the special status of IOK.

Chairman Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Abdur Rashid Turabi said it is time for UK to play an effective role to solve the Kashmir dispute.

Speaking on the occasion, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly Opposition Leader Chaudhry Muhammad Yaseen urged world leaders to play their part in stopping the human rights violation at the hands of the Indian occupying forces.

Tehreek-e-Kashmir (TeK) President Raja Fahim Kayani said the money India receives from UK for poverty alleviation is being spent on military operations in IOK.

He also said that the memorandum is to put pressure on the Indian government to lift the draconian curfew which has “turned Kashmir into a living hell”.

The AJK Information Minister Mushtaq Minhas also called on the UK leadership to settle the longstanding dispute against Kashmiris, referring to them as “victims of the worst kind of state terrorism of New Delhi and its military establishment”.

Zafarullah Shah also said that only the UK can pressurise India to uplift the communication blockade in the occupied valley.