Hurriyat leader demands global accountability

Altaf Ahmed Bhat says impunity in IIOJK continues to fuel abuses

ISLAMABAD:

As Kashmir marks another sombre anniversary of the Gaw Kadal massacre, senior Hurriyat leader Altaf Ahmed Bhat has renewed demands for international accountability, calling for an independent global investigation into grave human rights violations and war crimes committed by Indian forces in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

In a statement issued from Islamabad on the eve of the massacre's anniversary, the Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement and senior leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference paid solemn tribute to the martyrs of Gaw Kadal, who were killed on January 21, 1990, when Indian forces opened indiscriminate fire on peaceful protesters in Srinagar.

He said the massacre was one of the darkest chapters in Kashmir's contemporary history and a stark symbol of the brutal response to unarmed civilian resistance.

Recalling the events that led to the bloodshed, Altaf Ahmed Bhat said the protesters at Gaw Kadal had gathered against the reported molestation of Kashmiri women by Indian troops a day earlier, only to be met with bullets instead of justice.

More than fifty civilians were killed and hundreds injured, many of them permanently.

"The victims of Gaw Kadal were not combatants. They were ordinary people demanding dignity, safety, and accountability. Their only 'crime' was raising their voice," he said.

Altaf Ahmed Bhat noted that despite the passage of thirty-five years, no one has been held accountable for the massacre. "The denial of justice to the victims and their families is not an exception; it reflects a larger pattern of institutional impunity that has prevailed in occupied Kashmir since 1989," he said.

He stated that the Kashmiri people have paid an unbearable price for demanding their internationally recognised right to self-determination.

Citing documented data, he said that since 1989, nearly ninety-six thousand Kashmiris have been killed, including thousands in custody or staged encounters.

Hundreds of thousands have been arrested, tens of thousands of homes destroyed, thousands of women widowed, children orphaned, and women subjected to sexual violence.

"These are not isolated incidents. They represent a sustained campaign of repression against an entire population," he added.

He stressed that the Kashmir issue is not merely a political dispute but a humanitarian crisis that demands urgent global attention.

"When massacres like Gaw Kadal go unpunished, it emboldens further violations. Silence from the international community has a cost, and Kashmiris continue to pay it with their lives," he remarked.

Altaf Ahmed Bhat urged the United Nations, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the European Union and other international human rights bodies to initiate impartial inquiries into massacres, enforced disappearances, custodial killings and other serious violations in occupied Kashmir.

He called on world powers to move beyond statements of concern and take concrete steps to ensure accountability.