Amnesty International advises India to release political leaders, restore communications in IoK

Aakar Patel said that Indian act of depriving Kashmiris of their rights is against int'l standards.

NEW DELHI (Dunya News) - Amnesty International today (Aug 26) expressed concerns over Indian operations in the occupied Kashmir, saying it is illegal to stop freedom of expression of Kashmiris and Indian government should release the political leaders.

Aakar Patel, Executive Director of Amnesty International India, issued a statement against India on the Kashmir issue expressing that people‘s lives in Jammu and Kashmir have been made hell. “An information black hole has been created due to communications blackout, illegal arrests and media restrictions. It is illegal to ban freedom of expression in occupied Kashmir”, he added.

Aakar Patel asserted that the occupied Kashmir has seen serious human rights abuses in the past as well. He further said that Mode-led Hindu nationalist government Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has taken complete control over the IoK whereas they should release the political leaders in IoJ&K.

In the issued statement, Amnesty Int’l Head expressed that in the aftermath of the unilateral revocation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that guaranteed special status to Jammu and Kashmir by the Government of India, authorities have allegedly detained many political leaders including former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti; former bureaucrat-turned-politician Shah Faesal and Ravinder Sharma amongst others.

“No official information is available on the number of people detained, their access to a lawyer or their family members, where they are being held and under what charges, if any,” further read.

Aakar Patel maintained that Indian act of depriving the people of Kashmir their freedom of rights is against the international norms and standards.