Washington, January 09, 2023 (PPI-OT):The Kashmir Diaspora Coalition (KDC), an association of six international Kashmir diaspora advocacy organizations, has denounced India’s restriction of freedom of speech on esteemed Dr Asif Maqbool Dar. On January 7, 2023, the Hindutva-led Indian Home Ministry declared the highly respected Kashmiri diaspora leader, Dr Asif Maqbool Dar, a renowned anaesthesiologist, as a ‘terrorist’ under its infamous Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
The KDC in a statement issued in Washington said Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations have all condemned Indian violations of human rights in the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir, especially the use of ‘lawless laws’ to intimidate the indigenous population. This is just another instance of a fascist, internationally discredited political organization – BJP-, with a dwindling economy that flaunts international law and brazenly continues its military occupation against a hapless people to distract its impoverished society. It added.
It said Dr Asif Maqbool Dar is not an Indian citizen but an advocate of the right to self-determination for the people of Kashmir. This right is accorded to all peoples under international law and relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, especially Resolution 47 passed on April 21, 1947, it maintained. The KDC said under both the 4th Geneva Convention and Hague Regulations of 1899 and 1907, India must ensure certain rights to the indigenous people of occupied territories, i.e., the people of Kashmir.
Furthermore, it said, Article 75 of Additional Protocol of 1977, affords all rights and protections for the indigenous people’s freedom of expression in the occupied territories and in diaspora. It demanded that the Hindutva-led, fascist Indian government repeal these draconian edicts, lift the ongoing siege in the occupied territories of Jammu and Kashmir and refrain from weaponising its law to stifle freedom of expression. It also condemned the illegal incarceration of journalists, human rights defenders and political leaders and demanded the withdrawal of the Indian troops from the occupied territory.
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