Srinagar, December 05, 2018 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik has strongly condemned the crackdowns launched by the Indian forces on pro-freedom leaders and activists to prevent them from observing human rights week in the territory.
The resistance leaders in a statement issued in Srinagar said, as December 10 is globally observed as Human Rights Day, it was decided to commemorate a human rights week to draw attention of the world community towards the grave human rights violations by Indian troops in the occupied territory.
They said that the authorities arrested all those who took part in candle light protests including Noor Muhammad Kalwal, Showkat Ahmed Bakhshi, Muhammad Yasin Butt and Sheikh Abdur Rasheed. They said that these leaders were detained during nocturnal raids on their residences, which reflected the ultimate frustration of the occupation authorities.
The statement said while Syed Ali Gilani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq remain illegally caged in their homes, other leaders including Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai and Bilal Siddiqi too have been placed under house detention and Muhammad Yasin Malik has been lodged in police custody since the commencement of so-called panchayat elections. The leaders maintained that every form of peaceful means of protest against human rights violations or expression of dissent is crushed or forcibly disallowed making shutdown the only option available.
“Whosoever raises voice is rewarded with punishment under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA). As space for youth has been squeezed, they feel pushed to the wall and many are forced to pick up arms to fight this state aggression and terrorism,” the leaders said and added that detaining leaders, lodging them in jails and scuttling peaceful protests could not break their resolve nor of the people of Kashmir. They urged every segment of the society to follow the programmes announced by the JRL in connection with the ongoing human rights week to wake up the international community.
The leadership urged the international community particularly human rights bodies including the UN Human Rights Council, Amnesty International, Asia Watch and International Committee of Red Cross to take note of the grim situation of occupied Kashmir where innocent people are subjected to repression and even babies are showered with bullets and pellets.
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