PML-N leader urges govt for repatriation of bodies from India

PML-N AJK President Ghulam Qadir appealed to the international community to play their part

MUZAFFARABAD:

Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Azad Jammu and Kashmir chapter AJK President Shah Ghulam Qadir, who is also a Member Legislative Assembly from Upper Neelum, urged the government of Pakistan to use all available channels for getting back the bodies of five missing civilians of Sonar Neelum Valley AJK.

The five civilians were collecting medicinal herbs in the forest and were picked up by the Indian army deployed on the Line of Control (LoC).

Qadir said this while talking to the media after reaching out to the families of martyred people for condolence.

He condemned the martyrdom of five innocent youths belonging to his constituency in custody by the Indian occupational forces and appealed to the international community to do their part in returning the remains of the martyrs to their heirs.

He added that India captured and martyred these innocent civilians in custody and misled the world about the situation in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir by presenting them as militants.

The martyred civilians were the sole breadwinners of their families and India lied to the world by presenting these five civilians as militants.

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The local PML-N leader said that India also falsely claimed that the arms were recovered from these citizens, why did the Indian occupying forces hide the bodies, identities and faces of these citizens from the media, he asked.

"The martyred youth had nothing to do with militancy. The international community should take notice of the killings of these innocent citizens."

“I could confirm that these boys have nothing to do with any illegal activity and militancy. Their custodial killing is a slap on the so-called democratic face of India that is beating the drums of democracy across the globe. Qadir questioned which law allows Indian army to kill innocent civilians and later refusing to hand over their bodies to the heirs.”

The PML-N AJK president said villagers know the five boys very well who grew up in the same area and were labourers. They used to work on daily wages to meet their expenses and their cold-blooded murder was the worst kind of human rights violation.

"International community and human rights organisations must take notice of these custodial killings of five innocent civilians and put pressure on New Delhi to send back the bodies of the five civilians to Azad Jammu and Kashmir."

The martyred men were identified as 40 years old Siddique, Sher Afzal 40, Fayyaz Ahmed 30, Ghulam Rasool 37 and Sarfraz, 40. All were married and had children of the age group of 1 to 15.