-Urges international community to hold India accountable for grave Human Rights Violations in IIoJK
-30th anniversary of Chotta Bazaar massacre marked
By Asghar Ali Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday urged the international community to hold India accountable for its grave human rights violations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), saying the situation “warranted investigations under international scrutiny”.
The Foreign Office in a statement pointed that India continued to brutalize the defenseless Kashmiris in IIOJK through extra-judicial killings in fake “encounters” and staged “cordon-and-search” operations, custodial torture and imposition of collective punishment. ”These atrocities cannot break the will of the Kashmiri people in their just struggle for the inalienable right to self-determination as enshrined in the relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions,” the statement read, adding, Indian atrocities in Occupied Kashmir must be stopped now.
The statement was issued in connection with Srinagar’s Chotta Bazaar Massacre in Srinagar in IIOJK 30, where the Indian occupation on June 11, 1991 forces opened indiscriminate fire and killed 32 innocent Kashmiris including women and children.
“Despite repeated demands of judicial inquiry, the victims and their families are still awaiting justice,” the FO stressed. The statement mentioned that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in its reports of 2018 and 2019 had recommended the establishment of Commission of Inquiry (COI) to investigate gross and systematic human rights violations in IIOJK.
Days earlier, Pakistan strongly censured the killing of a young Kashmiri Mohammad Amin Malik due to torture by Indian occupation forces in IIOJK.
The young Kashmiri was in illegal custody of the Indian occupation forces. The Indian occupation army has killed over 50 Kashmiris since January 2021 in fake encounters in the name of so-called “security operations” against innocent Kashmiri civilians. Young men including minor children are murdered in broad daylight using brutal and indiscriminate force.
Arbitrary detentions of Kashmiri youth also continue unabated. In addition, the refusal to return the mortal remains of martyrs for proper burial demonstrates the moral bankruptcy of the Indian government.
The use of brutal force against innocent Kashmiris cannot suppress the struggle for their legitimate right to self-determination. We once again call upon the international community to hold India accountable for the grave and systematic human rights violations of the Kashmiri people and work for peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UNSC resolutions and wishes of the Kashmiri people.
Note that Mohammad Amin Malik was shot dead by the security forces following an overnight encounter, a police official said.
The gunbattle between the surrendered militant and police broke out inside the Special Operations Group (SOG) camp in Tral area. Malik allegedly snatched the rifle of constable Amjid Khan and shot at him. He was hurt in the incident and immediately taken to the hospital for medical assistance.
The officials said Malik had surrendered before security forces on May 30 along with a .12 bore rifle. The security forces tried to persuade the militant to surrender on Wednesday and even called his parents to convince him to lay down the arms, the officials said.
