FO slams illegal detention of Muslim scholars in IIOJK

Spokesperson says arrests mark a new low in the Indian onslaught on rights of Kashmiris

ISLAMABAD:

The Foreign Office strongly condemned on Sunday the arbitrary arrests and illegal detention of prominent Muslim scholars by Indian occupation forces in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

The Foreign Office spokesperson said that the arrests of scholars, including Maulana Abdul Rasheed Dawoodi, Maulana Mushtaq Ahmed Veeri and five members of Jamaat-e-Islami, marked a new low in the Indian forces’ onslaught on the human rights of the Kashmiris.

“These deplorable actions only days ahead of the UN General Assembly session manifest India’s growing intransigence, and utter disregard of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” the spokesperson said in a press release.

Read more: India stoops to new low after arresting prominent Islamic scholars in IIOJK

The spokesperson said that the illegal detention of the Kashmiri scholars in fictitious cases and on fallacious grounds, was yet another Indian attempt to rob the Kashmiri people of their distinct religious and cultural identity.

“The reprehensible arrests of the Kashmiri Islamic scholars under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA) that defies all international humanitarian laws and permits preventive detention for as many as two years without the need of any trial, is a deplorable preemptive step by the Indian authorities planning to illegally occupy the religiously significant ‘Waqf Board’ properties,” the spokesperson said.

“Apprehensive of widespread protests and unrest in the face of such a malicious move, these scholars have not only been unjustifiably arrested but shifted from Kashmir to a prison in the Hindu majority Jammu. These politically motivated arrests are clearly meant to stifle the voice of the Muslims of IIOJK and further marginalise them.”

Also read: Islamabad calls for ending rights abuses in IIOJK

The spokesperson called for the immediate release of the religious scholars and all other Kashmiri prisoners illegally detained by India. “We also urge the international community to take note of the dangerously growing trajectory of Islamophobia in India, instigated at the behest of the BJP-RSS nexus, that is aimed at suppressing the Muslims of India, denying them space to freely practice their faith and attacking their places of worship.”