Pakistani govt urged to include Kashmiri representatives in delegations for foreign briefings

Islamabad

Mushaal Hussein Mullick, wife of Chairperson Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Yaseen Malik, has suggested the Pakistani government to include Kashmiri representatives in the high powered delegations visiting different countries to brief them about Kashimir situation.

Mushaal was speaking at a seminar organised by the Women Parliamentary Caucus (WPC) at Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Studies. The objective of the session was to take a firsthand account of the nature and extent of the human rights violations being committed on Kashmiri women and children in the occupied Kashmir. The event was attended by a large number of Parliamentarians, student, diplomats and civil society activists. 

Mushaal said women in occupied Kashmir are living the life similar to the life of women who were affected by the World Wars. “Their husbands are either missing, dead, injured or imprisoned. They are on the roads running their homes and taking care of their families. They are harassed, humiliated, tortured and raped but nothing can defeat their determination to fight the war of freedom,” she said.

She said that between 1990 and 2016, more than 150,000 Kashmiris have been killed by Indian security forces and almost 12,000 women have been gang raped, tortured, mutilated and even killed and around the same number of youth and children have been maimed, tortured, and molested by the Indian paramilitary and security forces. 

Mushaal said that around 600,000 children have been orphaned during Kashmr struggle which is more that the total population of many countries. “Around 55.3 per cent of children are under severe depression whereas 54.2 per cent can’t sleep due to fear and insecurity. Schools have been closed for past three months. The children are now going to makeshift hospitals in homes and mosques to continue their studies. Worst of all, they are being used as human shield by the Indian forces.”

She urged United Nations (UN) and other human rights organizations to take practical steps for stopping Indian forces atrocities in Indian Held Kashmir (IHK). “We have been killed, toured, detained and blinded. International community would have to come for our help before it is too late,” she said. 

She also talked about the detention of her husband and his deteriorating health. She said that despite his frail health condition, he has been kept in the interrogation centre. “He is on life saving drugs which has not been provided to him in detention. He was not given water for 15 days which resulted in serious kidney issues. There are around 5,000 such political prisoners.  They are brutally tortured and none of them is allowed to see his family,” she said.

She said that if anything happens to leadership, things would definitely go out of control in the occupied Kashmir. “They are not the terrorists. They are the heroes of Kashmiri youth and the forerunners of peaceful legitimate freedom right struggle in the occupied Kashmir,” she said.

She said that winds of change are blowing in the subcontinent and what would be the better start other than freedom and peace for Kashmiris. “This movement is not about the land but it is about the people fighting for their fundamental right,” she said.

Speaking on this occasion, Chairperson WPC Shaista Pervaiz Malik said that to maintain its control on Kashmir, India has continued its repressive regime in the Kashmir valley through various machinations. “Since 1990, more than 600,000 troops have been deployed by India in Kashmir who have been playing havoc with the lives of unarmed innocent Kashmiri people including women and children.”

She said that Indian security forces increasingly and rampantly break all limits of humanity and humanitarian law during their so called crack-downs. She urged youth to spread the message to the world through social media. “It is the responsibility of everyone to play their role in supporting the Kashmir movement. It is now our war,” she said.