190 countries declare IIOJK siege 'most prolonged lockdown'

Verdict a validation of Pakistan’s stance over IIOJK, says senior officer at the SAARC-ASEAN Post-Doctoral Academia

LAHORE:

Over 190 countries across the globe have unanimously declared the inhuman blockade and restrictions imposed in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) during the past two years “the most escalated and prolonged lockdown” in two decades, said a press release issued here on Sunday.

Prior to the observance of Kashmir Solidarity Day on February 5 across the world, a Britain-based international organisation, the Impact Hallmarks, announced its verdict on January 28, 2021, under the banner "The Unanimous Accords of Decadal & Bi-decadal Titles".

The unanimously approved declaration reads: “The forced lockdown, imposed by the armed forces in IIOJK, has been titled as the most escalated and prolonged lockdown during the entire course of two decades (Bi-Decadal 2000-2020)."

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The inhuman and barbaric 2019-2021 lockdown was imposed throughout IIOJK, following the revocation of Article 370 and Article 35A of the Indian constitution and subsequent introduction of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.

The lockdown officially started on Aug 5, 2019, after which no foreign journalist was allowed by the Indian government to report from the occupied valley. Hundreds of Kashmiri young men were killed, houses were burnt, and women were abducted during the prolonged lockdown.

The international organisation also explained on its website the procedure employed for selecting most impactful persons/objects of the last two decades as well as declaring titles unanimously.

According to the preamble note, a selection team of 132 nonaligned neutral assessors including 75 self-determining nonpartisan researchers and peripheral observers laid, retained and furnished the criterions of shortlisting, and helped reached final decisions purely on merit.

While talking to APP, Lt-Col (retd) Azhar Saleem, senior coordinating officer at the SAARC-ASEAN Post-Doctoral Academia, said that the unanimous verdict given by over 190 countries of the world was, in fact, validation of Pakistan’s stance that India had been committing all types of atrocities against the people of held valley.

He said communication for unanimously declaring the restrictions in the IIOJK as the longest lockdown of the two decades was sent to the Impact Hallmarks by Prof Dr Aurangzeb Hafi of Pakistan.

The international organisation, after verifying all facts from the independent sources, presented the communication from Pakistan, along with other happenings, before the world nations, which passed the titles unanimously, added the senior officer.