Washington D.C, August 04, 2022 (PPI-OT):The World Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKAF) has urged India to restore the special status of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir and let the Kashmiri people decide their future by themselves.
The WKAF in a statement in Washington said it condemns every illegal and manipulative step the Indian regimes have taken against the Kashmiri people since its invasion in 1947. It also denounced the draconian laws passed by the Modi administration following the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A through which it is stealing public and private resources – land, water, minerals, and lumbar without any compensation or legal recourse.
Under these laws, it said, Kashmiri Muslims are summarily terminated from their government jobs without cause. Muslims in high government jobs are being demoted and replaced with imported Indian personnel, it said, adding political leaders and human rights activists are thrown into crowded filthy prisons across India far away from their families without recourse to any due legal process.
The WKAF said the right of free speech and free movement, particularly international travel, is limited and, in some cases, completely denied. Kashmir is going through an untenable existential crisis and must be stopped by international intervention.
It appealed to the United Nations, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and international human rights organizations to intervene and impress upon India to rescind the repeal of Articles 370 and 35A and restore freedom to all Kashmiris in and outside Kashmir.
It recalled that on 22 November 2021, Khurram Parvez, the coordinator of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, and the Asian Federation against Involuntary Disappearances chairperson, was unlawfully arrested by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) following a raid of his residence and booked under draconian law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
This act has been used by Indian forces to harass, assault and imprison Kashmir’s human rights activists, political leaders, and journalists, it deplored.
The WKAF said such actions by the NIA are politically motivated and are part of the Indian government’s attempt to further silence Kashmiris’ voices. As these heinous acts against the indigenous people of Kashmir continue, the resilience of the local people and the hope they have for self-determination grows stronger, it added.
The WKAF urged the international community to ensure that rights activists, political leaders, and local journalists are allowed to work freely and without harassment in IIOJK. “Our thoughts are with all political prisoners and their family during this unlawful arrest,” it maintained.
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