SRINAGAR: The All Parties Hurriyat Conference has vehemently denounced the unrelenting arbitrary arrests and prolonged detentions of Kashmiri leaders and activists by the Delhi-installed administration led by Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
According to Kashmir Media Service, APHC spokesman Advocate Abdul Rashid Minhas in a statement issued in Srinagar termed the arrests a deliberate attempt to crush the Kashmiris’ legitimate struggle for freedom.
He said that since August 5, 2019, India’s brutal crackdown in the occupied territory has intensified, with thousands of Kashmiris languishing in prisons under draconian laws like the Public Safety Act (PSA) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) without fair trial. He said Indian authorities are forcing detained youth to make false statements aimed at maligning the peaceful resistance movement.
Minhas pointed out that pro-freedom leaders and activists are being repeatedly targeted through fabricated charges while detainees are subjected to inhuman treatment, torture, and denial of basic rights in jails. He stressed that despite New Delhi’s repressive tactics, the Kashmiri people remain unwavering in their resolve to achieve their UN-recognized right to self-determination.
The spokesman urged the international community to hold India accountable for violating the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law in IIOJK.
Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Young Men’s League (JKYML) in a statement strongly condemned the raids and searches conducted by Indian army and police in Srinagar and other parts of the occupied territory. A JKYML spokesperson said that the group’s workers and activists were harassed during the raids. The spokesperson warned the Indian government that such actions cannot break the resolve of the Kashmiri people in their struggle to secure the UN-guaranteed right to self-determination
Jailed Kashmiri leader begins 24-hour hunger strike in Tihar Jail
Jailed member of Indian parliament from occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Engineer Sheikh Abdul Rasheed, began a 24-hour hunger strike inside Tihar Jail on Saturday evening to protest the continued denial of democratic and legal rights to Kashmiris.
According to the Kashmir Media Service, a spokesman for his party Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) said that AIP leaders in Kashmir also joined the hunger strike in solidarity. “We are observing a hunger strike to support our party president, who has been languishing in jail since 2019. We want to draw attention to the plight of hundreds of Kashmiris still detained in Tihar and other prisons under draconian laws.”
The hunger strike also aims to highlight the deafening silence of Indian political parties regarding the hundreds of Kashmiris imprisoned under repressive laws like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), merely for holding political beliefs.
AIP General Secretary Prince Parvaiz stated, “Engineer Rasheed feels the pain of these prisoners and their families, as he himself is a victim. We are morally bound to stand with him and support his call. This hunger strike is our way of showing solidarity with our leader.”
The party spokesperson further added that Rasheed’s protest is intended to remind the people of India that while debates continue about the Emergency of 1975 and the suppression of dissent under the Modi government, the ongoing denial of rights to Kashmiris since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, must not be forgotten.
