IHK under curfew amid arrests, brutal killings

ISLAMABAD: The Indian police arrested Hurriyat Forum Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Muhammad Yasin Malik after they tried to lead a march towards the Indian Army headquarters in Badami Bagh, Srinagar, on Monday.

According to the Kashmir Media Service (KMS), Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was arrested after he defied his house arrest and tried to march towards the Badami Bagh army base in Srinagar as a mark of protest against the civilian killings by Indian troops in Pulwama on Saturday.

As Mirwaiz came out of his Nigeen residence and tried to march along with dozens of his supporters towards the Badami Bagh base, a police contingent deployed near his residence thwarted the march and detained Mirwaiz and his supporters.

Muhammad Yasin Malik, who had gone underground to evade arrest, was also detained when he took out the march from Gaw Kadal area of Srinagar along with his supporters. As he reached Budshah Bridge, the police swung into action and arrested him along with many of his supporters.

The protesters said that police fired teargas shells to foil the protest. Call for the march towards the army headquarters was given by the Joint Resistance Leadership against the massacre of around a dozen Kashmiri youth by the Indian forces in Pulwama on Saturday.

Islamic Political Party Chairman Mohammad Yusuf Naqash was also arrested by police on Sunday evening. Naqash was arrested from his residence, and lodged in Safakadal Police station, his party said in statement.

International media reported that Indian authorities locked down parts of restive Kashmir as police fired tear gas at protesters defying a curfew to march against the shooting death of seven civilians.

A total curfew was imposed in parts of Srinagar to try and curb any unrest. Mobile internet services were also suspended in some areas, and train services shut down to prevent protesters from massing in numbers.

"Restrictions are in place in some city areas and in Pulwama," inspector general of police Swayam Prakash Pani told AFP, referring to Srinagar and the southern district where Saturday's shooting occurred.

Giving twist to the tragic situation, former Indian Supreme Court Justice Markandey Katju, who has also been the chairman of the Press Council of India, has slammed the Indian Army chief for the massacre in the Pulwama region of Kashmir.

Katju wrote sarcastically on twitter, “Congratulations to Gen Rawat whose soldiers killed 7 civilians in a Jallianwalabagh or My Lai type massacre in Pulwama Kashmir. How brave of the Indian army General.”

Reacting to Indian atrocities in Pulwama district, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that state-sponsored terrorism by Indian forces on innocent Kashmiris, including unethical targeting of civilian population across the Line of Control (LoC), are highly condemnable.

“Bullets can never suppress unarmed brave freedom fighters. Indian Army must respect ethics of professional soldiering,” the ISPR Director General said in a message posted on Twitter. Earlier on Sunday, Pakistan strongly condemned the horrific bloodbath in the Indian Held Kashmir by the Indian occupation force that has resulted in the martyrdom of 14 innocent Kashmiris and injuries to more than 200 protesters.

The Foreign Office (FO) said India has continued to ignore legitimate demands for international probe into gross and systematic human rights violations including use of pellet guns, excessive use of force, arbitrary arrest and detentions as well as continued sexual violence as a part of the overall impunity enjoyed by the Indian security forces.

In a related development, the General Secretariat of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) strongly condemned the killing of innocent Kashmiris by Indian forces. According to a press release, the OIC General Secretariat condemned this terrorist act and called upon the international community to play its role in order to reach a just and lasting solution to the conflict in Kashmir, in accordance with the relevant international resolutions adopted by the OIC and the UN Security Council.

Meanwhile, in Islamabad, a loud voice from the National Assembly (NA) in support of oppressed Kashmiris was heard in the shape of unanimous resolution to strongly condemn the atrocities in Indian Held Kashmir (IHK), including recent brutal killing of 14 persons in Palwama.

The resolution called upon the United Nations and international human rights organisations to fulfill their long standing commitment to Jammu and Kashmir solution as per will of the Kashmiri people.

Through another resolution, the NA condemned the attack on Army Public School (APS), Peshawar and paid tributes to martyrs of the terror attack on the school. “The House salutes and expresses complete solidarity with the brave people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir in their popular, spontaneous and peaceful protest against the illegal occupation by India and killing of innocent Kashmiris,” the resolution moved by the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affaris on behalf of the government and opposition benches said.

The parliamentarians also reiterated continuing political, moral and diplomatic support for just struggle and stressed that blatant violations of international laws could not deter valiant, oppressed people of IHK from continuing to demand self-determination. “The House reiterates that Jammu and Kashmir is the core dispute between Pakistan and India and its settlement is indispensible for realization of the dream for peace and stability in South Asia,” the resolution said.

The House welcomed the statement of OIC condemning the grave atrocities committed by the Indian occupation forces and urged the OIC to send a fact finding mission to the IHK. The House also called upon the government of India to bring an immediate end to all violations of the human rights and acts of terrorism. It demanded that India lift all restrictions on the media and stop intimidation and harassment of journalists and implement the UN Security Council resolutions promising the right of self-determination to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

The resolution also urged the international community to expedite the formation of the Commission of Inquiry to investigate gross human rights violations in the Indian Occupied Kashmir as recommended by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Earlier, speaking on the resolution, the opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif strongly condemned atrocities against Kashmiris in Indian occupied territory and questioned the silence of the international community on plight of the innocent people struggling for their right of self-determination.

Assuring his party’s complete support to the PTI government on the Kashmir issue, Shahbaz Sharif asked the rulers to take solid measures and utilise all the diplomatic resources to prevent India from committing atrocities against Kashmiris and resolve the long-standing issue. “I do not want to go into any religious debate. Brutalities in Occupied Kashmir have reached the extreme point,” he said adding that Pakistan would also have to awaken the Islamic block and Western world.

Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari said the past governments did nothing for the Kashmir issue regretting that the United Nations teams were also not allowed to visit Kashmir. “The past government used to send delegations which comprise people having no knowledge of the Kashmir issue,” she said.

She regretted that Pervez Musharraf adopted discriminatory behaviour with the leadership of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and ignored Syed Ali Gilani who played a leading role in freedom movement. “We should give equal importance and respect to all APHC leaders,” she said.

Former Prime Minister and PPP parliamentarian Raja Pervaiz, Amir Haider Khan Hoti of Awami National Party (ANP), Maulana Jamaluddin of JUI-F and other parliamentarians also condemned atrocities on the people of Indian Occupied Kashmir.

Senate Standing Committee on Interior Chairman Senator A Rehman Malik has strongly condemned the killing of 11 Kashmiri youth in Pulwama district of the IHK. Talking to media persons outside the Parliament House here on Monday, he said the Indian forces have crossed all limits of human rights violations and the international community should break its criminal silence over the worst human rights violations in Kashmir.

Senator Rehman Malik termed the continuous brutalities by Indian forces as Indian state terrorist acts adding that the state-sponsored terrorism by Indian forces had increased after Narendra Modi took the reins as the Indian prime minister in 2014.

He said that he was deeply hurt by the news that 14 youth were killed by Indian forces in IHK just on the same day. He demanded of the International Human Rights Commission to immediately take notice of Indian brutalities and targeting of civilian population across the Line of Control (LoC).

He has also asked the government of Pakistan to immediately go to the United Nations for legal action against Indian government and PM Narendra Modi. Malik said that the United Nations must break its silence and speak against the ongoing Indian brutalities and fulfill its own UNSC commitment of plebiscite with the people of Kashmir.

He said by cowardice act of state terrorism, India cannot suppress the brave people of Kashmir who are struggling for their legitimate right of self-determination under the UNSC resolutions.