Pakistan, rights organisations condemn arrest of activist in IIOJK

Pakistan has strongly condemned the arrest of human rights activist Khurram Parvez in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) by Indian forces.

"Arbitrary arrests of human rights activists on orchestrated charges by Indian occupation forces is clear evidence of New Delhi's state-terrorism and trampling of fundamental human rights in IIOJK," Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

The Spokesperson said that the reprehensible unwarranted searches by the Indian National Investigation Agency (INIA) at the offices and residence of Khurram Parvez, had also been condemned by international human rights activists and organizations.

"The world is aware that it has become increasingly difficult for human rights organizations and activists to continue their work in India and IIOJK due to incessant witch hunt by the Hindutva driven RSS - BJP combine over unfounded and motivated allegations," Asim Iftikhar added.

Read: UN criticises 'disturbing' arrest of rights activist in IIOJK

Amnesty International had to shut all its operations in India in September 2020 when its bank accounts were frozen by the Indian government in an act of reprisal because of their independent reporting on IIOJK, the Spokesperson mentioned.

He said the United Nations human rights machinery, independent NGOs and global media had regularly reported on and expressed concerns over increasing intimidation, harassment and reprisal attacks by Indian occupation forces against Kashmiri human rights defenders, journalists and civil society actors since 5 August 2019.

"We call on the international community to hold India accountable for continued clamp down against human rights organizations and activists for undertaking their duty to expose gross and systematic human rights violations of Kashmiris in IIOJK and the minorities, especially Muslims in India," the Spokesperson stressed.