Humanitarian crisis in Kashmir: Besiege enters 32nd day
Kashmir has been an epicenter of wars between Pakistan and India for several decades.
SRINAGAR (Dunya News) – As Pakistan awaits resolution of Kashmir dispute with India under United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions, brutal Modi regime have cut off more than 10 million people from the entire world to forcefully tighten its grip on the Himalayan region.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the humanitarian crisis has worsened in the region as 32 days have passed since imposition of curfew ordered by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after unilaterally abrogating articles 370 and 35A of the Indian constitution via a rushed presidential decree, stripping Kashmiris of their special rights.
Communications’ blackout, internet and mobile services’ suspension, closure of TV channels and stringent curfew have brought life to a standstill with all markets closed and public transport off the roads since August 5.
Yesterday, an 11th class student, Asrar Ahmed Khan, succumbed to pellet gun injuries after he was shot by Indian troops during demonstrations in Soura town of Srinagar a few days ago
The occupation forces have further tightened curfew and other restrictions in Srinagar to prevent further demonstrations against the student’s killing.
Around 50,000 public transport vehicles are grounded while train service is suspended for more than a month.
The entire region has no contact with the outside world due to blockade and suspension of internet, mobile and landline phones, and closure of TV channels.
Meanwhile, Hurriyat activists in their messages issued through posters and handbills in occupied Kashmir said that India can kill them but not their ideology, and expressed resolve to gain freedom ‘one day.’ The activists said that India had made them hardened and they were standing in front of their nation with the blessings of Allah Almighty to protect it from the Indian onslaught.
The Hurriyat activists in the posters and handbills said, “You are coward, India. Listen, you are coward, so coward, that you have brought every kind of weapon to stop us. You are scared of our weapon – our stone.”
“We will not let you go alive. We will make you run, run and run before throwing out of my Kashmir. We are Hurriyat and we are defenders of our Nation,” the posters and handbills by the Hurriyat activists added.
A large number of Hurriyat leaders, activists, students and youth, who were shifted from occupied Kashmir to jails in Uttar Pradesh and other states of India, are facing severe mental torture and depression. Hundreds of Kashmiris were shifted to jails in Agra, Varanasi, Fatehpur, Lucknow and Bareilly and the detainees have been kept in isolation in high security barracks.
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Human rights’ abuses must be investigated
The United Kingdom has called for thorough, prompt and transparent investigation of allegations of human rights’ violations in occupied Kashmir.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, while addressing in the House of Commons, said: “All and any allegations of human rights’ violations are deeply concerning. They must be investigated thoroughly, promptly and transparently.”
Raab told Members of Parliament in the first parliamentary session after a long summer recess that he had raised the concerns with the Indian External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, during a conversation on August 7 and that the UK will carefully monitor the situation in Kashmir.
“In relation to detentions, potential mistreatment and also the communications blackout, I raised those issues with the Indian Foreign Minister. The Indian government has made clear that they are only temporaneous, as strictly required. And of course, we would want to hold them to that undertaking,” Raab said while addressing an Oral Questions session which opened with a series of questions related to the Kashmir issue.
The British Foreign Secretary stressed that the human rights concerns made Kashmir an international issue. “The issue of human rights is not just a bilateral issue for India or Pakistan or a domestic issue, it is an international issue we expect internationally recognised human rights to be complied with and respected,” he said, addressing a question from Conservative Party MP Steve Baker, who represents a large Kashmiri-origin constituency of Wycombe in south-east England.
MPs from different sides of the Commons raised a series of questions over the Kashmir issue, including demanding an end to the blockade in occupied Kashmir as well as independent observers to be deployed to the territory.
Raab said, “We want to see a reduction of tensions in Kashmir, respect for internationally recognised human rights and steps from all sides to rebuild confidence.”
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‘I don’t know if my wife’s alive’
A British man told the media that he was falling apart as he hasn’t spoken to his wife for more than three weeks.
Sharing only his first name with a UK based media outlet, Adeel, 33, said that he didn’t even know if his ‘wife is still alive’.
He said, “I feel like no one cares. I will have to fly out to find out more about how she is or where she is, my mum and dad don’t want me to go, because it’s quite dangerous out there, but I feel like I have to go. I have no other option.”
Adeel was married to his wife who is from Srinagar, Kashmir, 18 months ago and asked for her name not to be published over concerns for her safety. He said the last he heard from his wife, she had to be driven for three hours by her brother, just so that they were able to receive a phone signal to contact him.
He appealed to the UK Foreign Office to help him.
Over 10,000 Kashmiris and hundreds of political leaders and workers including Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai continue to remain under house arrest or in jails.
The worst type of humanitarian crisis is looming large on the horizon of the occupied territory as people are facing acute shortage of food, medicines and other commodities. Hospitals have run out of medicine stock, while staff finds it difficult to turn up for duty due to curfew and restrictions imposed after India scrapped Jammu and Kashmir’s special status a month ago.
