Humanitarian crisis in Kashmir: India continues oppression and violation of Int'l laws

Kashmir has been an epicenter of wars between Pakistan and India for several decades.

SRINAGAR (Dunya News) – Indian government’s imposition of stringent curfew, after abrogation of articles 370 and 35A of its Constitution through a rushed presidential decree on Aug. 5, entered its 24rd day on Wednesday.

According to Kashmir Media Service, Indian occupation forces are being anticipated to conduct a major crackdown in Kashmir’s Soura region, where violent clashes had erupted between protesters chanting slogans against New Delhi’s aggression and illegal moves in the Muslim-majority Himalayan region.

Kashmir has been an epicenter of wars between Pakistan and India for several decades since the partition of the sub-continent in 1947 after getting independence from the British rule.

Speaking on a condition of anonymity, a top Indian police official told the media that the Indian Army was preparing an operation in the area where, on Friday, a demonstration rally was held on the call of local leaders resisting Indian occupation.

Anti-India protests break out across IoK

Yesterday, scores of people defied the curfew again in south, north, and central Kashmir against India’s latest onslaught and attempt to alter demography of the region.

Many were injured when Indian Army soldiers opened fire, using pellets, bullets, and teargas shells on protesters in the Soura neighbourhood, it said, as New Delhi deliberately aimed to destroy businesses.

 

 

A handicrafts store owner, Sameer Wani, told media men that it was a ‘do-or-die’ situation for Kashmiris amid deliberate destruction of their businesses and trampling of basic rights by the occupational forces. Many protesters said that they were worried about their teenaged sons, who were abducted by the troops during nocturnal raids.

Meanwhile, people are facing severe shortage of food, medicines and other commodities due to unabated curfew and communication blockade.

Markets and schools are still shut while all internet and communication services including landline phone, mobile and TV channels are closed in Kashmir valley and districts of Jammu region. Local newspapers are offline while most of them failed to bring out their print editions.

Over 10,000 Kashmiris including hundreds of political leaders and workers like Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai continue to remain under house arrest or in jails. On 5th of August, the BJP government had scrapped the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

Leaders, belonging to various political parties including Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during a meeting in Drass, rejected the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and the Ladakh. They said that they would remain a part of Jammu and Kashmir.

Samajwadi Party leader, Akhilesh Yadav, addressing a press conference in Lucknow, slammed the Indian government for restricting the movement of people in Jammu and Kashmir, and said: “What happened in Kashmir can also happen to the people of Uttar Pradesh.”

JAC to observe strike in Kargil

The Joint Action Committee (JAC), Kargil, while expressing resentment against abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A of the Indian constitution and imposition of continued curfew and communication blockade in the Kashmir valley by Narendra Modi-led government in New Delhi has called for a two-day strike in Kargil from today.

The decision was taken during a joint meeting of the Joint Action Committee, Kargil, and Coordination Committee, Drass.

As per a press release, it was decided in the meeting that complete strike will be observed in Drass, Kargil, Sanko and other areas of Kargil district on Wednesday (today) and Thursday.

Police arrest doctor for talking to media

A doctor, Omar Salim, was arrested by Indian police officials after he informed media about the terrible health crisis following the ‘worsened’ clampdown in the territory.

Dr Omar Salim, who is an urologist at the Government Medical College, Srinagar, had appeared at Press Enclave in Srinagar to speak to the media, wearing a doctor’s apron. He also held a placard that stated he was making a “request and not a protest”.

Salim had only spoken for 10 minutes when police personnel whisked him away to some unknown location.

Attempts to locate whereabouts of Salim were thwarted by the information blockade. Spokesperson for the occupation authorities, Rohit Kansal, the only official interface between the authorities and journalists, skipped the media briefing, reported The Telegraph.

Omar stated the information blockade and travel restrictions were endangering the lives of patients, particularly those who are in need of dialysis or chemotherapy.

Unidentified gunmen abducted a man and subsequently killed him in Tral area of Pulwama district.

UN chief monitors situation

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been monitoring the worsening situation in Indian occupied Kashmir, especially the reports about tightening restrictions and mass arrests, as he called for steps to defuse tensions between India and Pakistan, his spokesman said.

“We obviously continue to follow the situation very closely in Jammu and Kashmir, (and) also reports of restrictions and detentions in the Indian-administered side of the line of control in Jammu and ashmir,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in response to a question about Monday’s meeting between US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G-7 Summit in Biarritz, France.

“The Secretary-General reiterates what he has been saying both publicly and privately to India and Pakistan to their leaders to exercise restraint and to take whatever steps they can to defuse tensions,” he added.