Doctors, students protest against denial of medical facilities to people in IoK

Hundreds of doctors and medical students held a massive protest demonstration in Karachi on Thursday against Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir and demanded of the international community to press India to allow international humanitarian organisations, including Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, and Pakistani doctors to attend to the humanitarian crisis in the held valley.

The demonstration was jointly organised by the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA), Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), Pakistan Pediatric Association (PPA), Radiology Society of Pakistan and Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), while a large number of doctors from public and private hospitals, including the Aga Khan University Hospital, also attended the protest demonstration and called for the immediate lifting of the curfew and other restrictions in Indian-occupied Kashmir.

Carrying banners and placards in their hands which were inscribed with slogans, including “End Occupation of Kashmir”, “Quit Kashmir”, and “Allow Humanitarian Assistance to Kashmiris”, the participants chanted slogans against the Indian-occupying forces for clamping a month-long curfew in the valley, disallowing Kashmiris to seek medical assistance and treatment and also against so-called international powers for their silence on the growing humanitarian crisis.

Speaking to the participants, senior doctors and heads of medical associations, including Dr Shershah Syed, Dr Qaiser Sajjad, Prof Sohail Akhtar, Prof Azeem Siddiqui, Prof Atif Hafeez Siddiqui and Prof Khalid Shafi, strongly condemned Indian atrocities against the innocent people of Kashmir and said that due to the month-long curfew, hundreds of people were feared to have died at their homes as they were not allowed to leave their homes and seek medical assistance.

“Hundreds of patients who required immediate medical assistance including treatment for heart attacks, stroke, other emergencies while patients undergoing treatment for cancers and other conditions are not being allowed to visit hospitals and seek medical treatment. Many would have been died so far due to the month-long curfew,” said Dr Shershah Syed and demanded of the Indian government to allow the International Red Cross and other international medical associations to enter the valley to provide medical assistance to the people.

Other speakers also criticised the international organizations, including the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO), for keeping silence on the Indian atrocities and the humanitarian crisis in held Kashmir and demanded from them to end their hypocrisy and exert pressure on the Indian government to lift its curfew and allow humanitarian assistance to the people of Kashmir.