Srinagar, October 13, 2019 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, the miseries of millions of residents of Kashmir Valley and Muslim majority areas of Jammu region continue unabated as the strict lockdown imposed by the Indian government completed 10 weeks, today.
Shops and markets are closed and public transport is off the roads in the Kashmir Valley and many areas of Jammu as a mark of protest to express resentment against the Indian occupation. In the absence of public transport, people face immense difficulties to get to the hospitals and move from one place to another to meet their loved ones. They cannot even easily communicate with their relatives and friends due to gag on internet and cell phone services. The lockdown and ban on communications has virtually cut off the Kashmir Valley from the rest of the world. As per the estimates of Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries, the losses in occupied Kashmir since 5th August have crossed over Rs 6,000 crore.
Meanwhile, Resistance Youth League in the posters circulated in occupied Kashmir appealed to the ulema and intellectuals of the territory to play lead role in ending the Indian subjugation. It said that it is the responsibility of the religious leaders and intellectuals to show the path of freedom to the Kashmiri youth. The Resistance Youth League said that at a time when the cruel soldiers were standing at the doors of the Kashmiris and the chastity of their mothers, sisters and daughters was at risk, it was the responsibility of every person to play his role in the ongoing freedom movement. It said this is going to be a long and final war and even Pakistan Prime Minister, Imran Khan, has put everything at stake.
On the other hand, more than 200 students of the University of Hyderabad in Telangana, India, participated in a candlelight march to protest against the continued lockdown in occupied Kashmir. Indian civil rights activists including Shabnam Hashmi and Revati Laul addressing a news conference at Press Club of India in New Delhi urged the Indian government to restore Articles 370 and 35A as well as mobile and internet services, remove the restrictions on the movement of people in the Kashmir Valley and take steps to bring back normalcy in the territory. They said that the abrogation of Article 370 was a mindless exercise carried out by the BJP-led government.
Kannan Gopinathan, the IAS officer, who resigned in protest against human rights violations in occupied Kashmir, addressing a conference in Thrissur city in Indian state of Kerala said that denial of human rights to the Kashmiri people and exclusion of a group of people in Assam in the name of Citizenship Amendment Bill is against Constitution. A. Marx, a human rights activist from Tamil Nadu, in his address to the conference said what is happening in Kashmir and Assam now will be repeated soon in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
In London, an event was organized at the Pakistani High Commission to remember the Kashmiri girl victims of Indian atrocities. Exclusive photos of the Kashmiri girl victims as documented by various international institutions and human rights organisations displayed on the occasion helped visitors understand the gravity and magnitude of the human rights violations being perpetrated by Indian troops in occupied Kashmir.
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