'India scared of voices of conscience in IIOJK'

Kashmiris are undergoing a critical time as the fascist Indian regime has now started targeting intellectual class of the society in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

Condemning the arrest of pharmacy scholar and Kashmir’s top student leader Ala Fazili and the sacking of renowned law professor Sheikh Showkat Hussain as a college principal, the Kashmiri diaspora has called on the voices of conscience to speak on Kashmir and hold India accountable for its crimes against humanity inflicted on people of the IIOJK.

“Prof. Hussain and Mr Fazili are people of conscience who put the interest of Kashmiris above everything,” said Fahim Kayani, president Tehreek-e-Kashmir UK.

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The Indian military regime in IIOJK earlier this month sacked Prof. Hussain for being the voice of conscience in support of the UN-granted right to self-determination while the terror-spreading Indian forces raided the house of and arrested Fazili for an article regarding the freedom movement in IIOJK which was published in 2011.

“This is alarming that the Indian fascists are targeting the cream of the Kashmiri society,” Kayani warned. “The aim is to just spread terror among the intellectual class to ensure no sane voices writes or speaks.”

Kayani said this is the same policy that Nazis applied during their time in the 1930s. “The voice of an intellectual terrorises a colonial power because the intellectual speaks truth to power and in the case of IIOJK, India is targeting everyone who dares to speak for the right to self-determination,” said the Kashmiri leader in the UK.

The TeK UK leader, however, said, “Kashmir will produce hundreds more who will not be cowed down as has been scripted in the history that Kashmiris did not bow before the one million Indian occupying forces.”

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“It is because of the grit, capacity and ability of Fazili that he rose to become a scholar in pharmaceutical studies while Prof. Hussain has been the leader in legal scholarship on the Kashmir dispute. Kashmiris are proud of these sons of the soil for their selfless efforts,” said Kayani.

He said the targeting of Kashmiri scholars is just aimed to “kill the Kashmir story.”

“India is scared of Kashmiri narrative and story coming out of the world’s largest open-air prison,” he said. “There is a pattern on how India has targeted Kashmiris from academicians to media to voices of Hurriyat Conference. It is all to kill the bird in the nest but Kashmiris are brave enough to tell their story to those who will force them to stop state terrorism in IIOJK.”

Referring to the Indian ban on Kashmiris studying in Pakistan, Kayani termed it as “yet another example of terrorism inflicted on people of IIOJK.”

“This ban jeopardises the career of hundreds of Kashmiris who are studying or have graduated from Pakistan. This move only exposes other faces of fascism which is ruling India,” said Kayani, adding Kashmiri diaspora groups need to formulate a strategy to counter this disenfranchisement of Kashmiris.

“This way, India is robbing Kashmiris of their right to pursue education and is a blatant violation of international treaties on education beyond borders,” he said. “India is proving to be a rogue state by banning Kashmiris from attaining education.”

Kayani said TeK UK will launch a campaign with the British government and civil society besides reaching out to allies in Europe to force India to release Fazili, re-instate Prof. Hussain and roll back the ban order of studies in Pakistan.