Brussels, May 30, 2018 (PPI-OT): The Chairman of Kashmir Council European Union (KCEU), Ali Raza Syed, has expressed solidarity with the families of the thousands of Kashmiris who have been subjected to custodial disappearance by the Indian police and troops in occupied Kashmir during the past twenty-nine years.
Ali Raza Syed in a statement issued in Brussels in connection with the International Week of the Disappeared said, “We are with the families of the disappeared persons in occupied Kashmir.” He also appreciated the struggle of human rights organizations including Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) seeking the whereabouts of the disappeared people in occupied Kashmir.
The KCEU Chairman called for the protection of all persons from custodial disappearance and criminalizing the practice of enforced disappearance. He said that the Human Rights Commission of the occupied territory had accepted that more than 8,000 persons in Kashmir were disappeared beside thousands of unmarked mass graves had been discovered but the authorities seemed to be unwilling to initiate any effective inquiry into the matters.
Ali Raza Syed deplored that despite a consistent campaign by the parents and relatives of the disappeared persons, no action had been taken by the Indian government. “The Indian government has failed to investigate enforced disappearances, bring the perpetrators to justice.” Due to the continued denial, the families of disappeared particularly half widows and their children continues to suffer endlessly, he added.
The KCEU Chairman said that it was moral duty of the international community and the Indian civil society to pressurize India and hold it responsible for the forced disappearance in occupied Kashmir. He said that the world community should put pressure on India to make sure an impartial enquiry into all the cases of custodial disappearances and ensure speedy justice to the victims and prosecute the perpetrators. He also demanded an impartial probe into the rape and murder of two young ladies by the Indian men in uniform in Shopian on May 29, 2009, to punish the perpetrators of this heinous crime.
For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Phone: +92-51-4435548, +92-51-4435549
Fax: +92-51-4861736
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Website: www.kmsnews.org