Pakistan assails India for detaining senior Hurriyat leader in IIOJK

Pakistan on Friday strongly condemned the “cowardly” arrest of Hurriyat Conference Vice Chairman Ghulam Ahmad Dar by occupation forces in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA), the foreign office said in a statement.

Arbitrary arrests of Hurriyat leaders, political activists, human rights defenders, and civil society members on orchestrated charges manifestly reflect India’s frustration at the freedom struggle by the Kashmiri people that continues unfazed despite increasing intimidation, harassment and reprisal attacks by the occupation forces, it said.

Almost the entire Kashmiri leadership including Asiya Andrabi, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Yasin Malik, and Masarat Alam Bhat is either detained in crowded jails in India or under house arrest on made-up charges.

The relentless witch-hunt of Hurriyat leaders and political activists by the Hindutva driven RSS-BJP dispensation on motivated allegations and their persecution on fictitious charges under draconian laws is in clear violation of the UN Charter, UN Security Council and UN General Assembly resolutions, and international human rights and humanitarian law, the FO said.

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Regrettably, it added, that the Indian occupation forces are yet to account for the death of senior All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leader and Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir Chairman Ashraf Sehrai who was arrested last year on trumped up charges under the oppressive PSA in IIOJK and remained under illegal Indian custody till the time of his death despite his worsening health condition.

“India must remember that no amount of systematic brutality, unbridled use of force and atrocious clamp-downs against Kashmiri leadership will suppress the Kashmir freedom movement nor would it delude the world into accepting India’s false claims of ‘normalcy’ in the IIOJK and portraying itself as a victim of terrorism,” read the communiqué.

Pakistan called upon the international community to compel India to abjure its policy of state-terrorism in IIOJK and immediately release all arbitrarily arrested Kashmiri political leaders and activists including Ghulam Ahmad Dar.