'Youm-e-Istehsal': #KashmiriLivesMatter digital campaign launched in UK

LONDON: Kashmiri rights groups in the UK organised a digital campaign with the hashtag #KashmiriLivesMatter and #KashmirSeigeDay on 'Youm-e-Istehsal', or August 5, 2020, exactly a year after India scrapped the Muslim-majority region's special status and imposed a brutal lockdown.

The slogan was displayed on the British Parliament, Marble Arch, One Marylebone, and various other locations in Central London. The event marked the first anniversary of India's annexation of Kashmir after revoking Article 370, which gave special status to the disputed territory.

The fascist Indian government has placed 900,000 soldiers in the Himalayan valley, effectively imposing a complete curfew and communications blackout for the people of Kashmir.

Pakistan is marking August 5 as Youm-e-Istehsal for the innocent Kashmiris who are living in an extremely hostile environment under the rule of Indian forces.

Genocide Watch had earlier issued a warning on the present conditions and violence going on in the territory by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

The United Nation's experts, including 19 special rapporteurs, slammed the fascist Indian government for revoking the rights of Kashmiris, calling it a "free fall" of human rights.

"If India will not take any genuine and immediate steps to resolve the situation, meet their obligations to investigate historic and recent cases of human rights violations and prevent future violations, then the international community should step up," they said in a joint statement.

Criticising the Indian government's unilateral siege of Kashmir, British-Kashmiri novelist and academic Nitasha Kaul said: "Parallels with Nazi Germany and the holocaust are very apt because the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] in India is a nationwide paramilitary that is the ideological parent of the current ruling party.

"The RSS has vowed to turn India into a Hindu nation," Kaul added.

Previously, the Indian government had imposed a curfew in Kashmir to prevent people from coming out in the streets and protesting against the illegal occupation of the disputed territory.

Lord Nazir Ahmed, a member of the House of Lords, and Kashmir Council Europe (KC-EU) Chairperson Ali Raza Syed have also appealed to the international community to take notice of Indian atrocities and inhumane acts in occupied Kashmir.