By Asghar Ali Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: A high-level social media task force of international standard is all the more imperative to counter the growing Indian propaganda against Pakistan and Kashmir by exposing digitally its armed forces’ ongoing atrocities in the IIOJK.
The whole world was witnessing the worst human rights situation, particularly in the Indian Illegal Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK), specifically unabated crimes against children and women, but the Indian social media was portraying the country’s soft image, Kashmir Forum Berlin (Germany) Chairman Tariq Mehmood Awan said on Sunday.
Taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said the fascist Indian government under the leadership of Narendra Modi had put its Hindu resettlement plan on fast-track to bring demographic changes in the IIOJK, possibly for turning the public opinion or world attention in its favour.
Tariq Mahmood said Narendra Modi’s government was only promoting the Hindutva ideology through its extremist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which was inspired from the Nazi regime of Germany. It was under the influence of RRS, he said, that India had eliminated the special status of IIOJK by revoking articles 35-A and 370 of its constitution on August 5, 2019 that barred non-Kashmiris to purchase a piece of land in the valley.
The August 5 move was followed by a strict curfew and complete communication blackout, compounded with the coronavirus lockdown, increased the difficulties of the incarcerated Kashmiris manifolds, he added. The Indian initiative of raising the strength of its army to 900,000 in the valley received worldwide condemnation, Tariq Mahmood said.
As regards the brisk implementation of the BJP government’s Hindu resettlement plan, he said India also introduced a new domicile act in the IIOJK and reportedly issued over 500,000 to non-Kashmiris for gaining a majority in the plebiscite, which was long due in line with the United Nations Security Council resolutions.
He said it was an attempt to muzzle the freedom voices in the IIOJK. India also amended the Public Safety Act depriving the Kahsmiri people of their fundamental rights by allowing the armed forces to jail the freedom leaders outside Kashmir. The Indian authorities, he said, had also recently locked the offices of Kashmir News Service and English daily ‘The Kashmir Times’ in Srinagar, which was an attempt to divert the world attention from its brutalities on innocent Kashmiris.