Brussels, Chairman of the Kashmir Council Europe (KCEU), Ali Raza Syed, has endorsed the recent report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), confirming widespread human rights violations by Indian troops in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

According to Kashmir Media Service, Ali Raza Syed praised HRW’s report for accurately documenting the severe human rights issues in the region. He highlighted the suppression of freedom of expression, peaceful protest, and assembly in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir, where residents endure numerous hardships, including extrajudicial killings, targeted violence, enforced disappearances, and sexual assaults by occupying forces.

Syed also criticized the Indian foreign ministry for opposing a recent visit by British diplomats to Azad Kashmir. Reacting to India’s objection to the UK Commissioner to Pakistan Jane Marriott’s visit to Azad Kashmir on January 10, he asserted that Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized disputed territory and not an integral part of India.

He noted that India deployed military forces to a large part of Jammu and Kashmir on October 27, 1947, resulting in the ongoing occupation of the territory, which is now referred to as Indian illegally occupied Kashmir.