Islamabad, June 30, 2021 (PPI-OT):Legal Forum for Kashmir has said that Indian occupied Jammu Kashmir is under unprecedented censorship and the muzzling of the voices of people has intensified manifold after the revocation of Article 370 and 35A by Modi-led Indian government.

The forum in a statement issued in Islamabad said, the subsequent raids on human rights groups, activists, and journalists have made it more difficult for organizations to work under constant fear and state-enforced silence on the people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir. It said, the first six months of 2021 saw India launching an unprecedented level of censorship on all forms of coverage to sustain a particular narrative and curb the reports on human rights violations in the occupied territory.

“IIOJK experienced a massive surge in coronavirus cases due to the Indian government’s criminal mismanagement of the COVID-19 response otherwise highly militarized region, which had already suffered a debilitating lockdown before the pandemic started,” the statement said and added that arbitrary use of the anti-terror laws against civilian population, human rights defenders and journalists continue in Kashmir despite sustained third wave of COVID-19 lockdown enforced by the government.”

“Even though UN special rapporteurs in three different letters to the Indian government raised concerns about introduction of new laws which may lead to a reduced level of political representation and participation of local groups in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir, according to UN experts,” the statement added.

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