Geneva, March 17, 2018 (PPI-OT): Rights activist, Ahmed Quraishi, representing the World Muslim Congress, has said India has a disturbing record of restricting civic space in occupied Kashmir. Ahmed Quraishi during the 37th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva referred to Kashmir where the puppet authorities gradually constrain the civic space through incremental actions.
He said a young journalist from occupied Kashmir could be physically harmed or killed because of his reporting work. His name is Salman Shah, and he is the Chief Correspondent for The Kashmiriyat newspaper, he added.
Ahmed Quraishi said last week, the journalist was entering his house in Srinagar, the capital of occupied Kashmir, when an Indian police officer lobbed a teargas shell at his doorstep. This Indian officer has in the past warned Salman Shah of dire consequences for his reporting on human rights violations by India’s army in the occupied territory. The Indian police officer used the pretext of a stone-pelting incident in nearby neighbourhood to attack the journalist living in a different neighbourhood, he added.
Ahmed Quraishi said that after the 33rd session of this Council, Indian human rights lawyer, Kartik Murukutla, was detained and questioned upon landing in India. He works on Kashmir. Another prominent rights defender, Khurram Parvez, the Chairperson of Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances, was prevented at New Delhi airport from boarding a flight to attend the September 2016 session of this Council.
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