Pakistan calls for inquiry into extra-judicial killings in occupied Kashmir

Pakistan on Saturday called for judicial inquiry under international scrutiny into the extrajudicial killing of three innocent Kashmiris in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K) on July 18.

The Indian occupying forces martyred 25-year-old Imtiyaz Ahmed, 20-year-old Mohammad Ibrar and 16-year-old Abrar Ahmed in a so-called "cordon and search" operation in Shopian. The young boys were working in apple orchards as labourers.

The Indian army claimed that the three boys were "unidentified terrorists" to cover up for the "cold-blooded murder," a statement by the Foreign Office said, adding that instead of handing over the human remains to the families of the victims, the armed forces had buried them in a graveyard marked for "foreign terrorists".

Two months later, the Indian Army admitted that the three innocent Kashmiris were killed extra-judicially - a hallmark of Indian occupation forces’ state-terrorism in IIOJK. In a statement issued on September 18, the Indian Army accepted that the powers vested under the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) were exceeded.

The Foreign Office maintained that since India's illegal annexation of IIOJK on August 5, 2019, India has continued to brutalize innocent Kashmiris. Over 300 innocent Kashmiris have been extra-judicially killed by Indian armed forces in fake 'encounters' and staged 'cordon-and-search' operations in the past year.

While Pakistan has continued to sensitize the international community - including the United Nations and international human rights organisations - about India's war crimes against the people of Kashmiri, India itself has that acknowledged heir forces are guilty of war crimes, in a statement issued by the Indian Army on September 18.

Pakistan reiterated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership must take responsibility for the crimes against the people of Kashmir. "No illegal and inhuman Acts such as the AFSPA and Public Safety Act (PSA) can provide impunity against the crimes that are being perpetrated in IIOJK," the statement said.

The communique read that India should be well-aware that using brutal force, including extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture in custody, use of pellet guns, burning and destruction of Kashmiris’ houses to inflict collective punishment cannot destroy the will of the people of Kashmir in their fight for self-determination.

Pakistan urged the international community to take immediate notice of the extra-judicial killings as well as other acts of the RSS-BJP government and hold it accountable for continuing crime against the Kashmiris.