TeK-UK urges access to IOK for charities to deliver food, meds

LONDON: Global charities must be given access to Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IoJ&K) so they could deliver food and medicines, participants at an international teleconference organised by Tehreek-e-Kashmir UK said on Friday.

The conference was attended by Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan, Shadow Minister Afzal Khan MP, Lord Nazir Ahmed, Lord Qurban Hussain, Hurriyat leader Altaf Ahmad Bhat , Shaista Safi and former councillor and TeK UK Deputy Secretary General Shakil Khan. The conference was presided over by President of the TeK UK Raja Fahim Kayani.

According to a press release, the participants also demanded all military operations against the political activists must be halted and detained Kashmiri leaders should be released immediately.

The AJK president said the world should take notice of the genocide of Kashmiris and help secure the release thousands of people languishing in different jails in India. “Modi government is not taking any notice of the directives issued by the United Nations for the safety of prisoners during the coronavirus pandemic, which is unfortunate,” he said.

“Indian forces are not only killing Kashmiris in fake encounters but also violating the ceasefire on the Line of Control (LoC) to target civilians to divert the world attention from Covid-19 in the region,” he said, adding Indian military establishment was not using its resources to save the lives of Kashmiris and stop the spread of Covid-19 in Kashmir.

Khan further said India was using black laws to fabricate fake cases to silence Kashmiri journalists. “With the introduction of new domicile law India is trying to change the Muslim-majority disputed region of Kashmir into a minority Muslim area, which is a crime under international law.”

Shadow minister Afzal Khan MP said in Kashmir one doctor was provided for 4,000 people and one ventilator was available for 17,000 people, which showed how medical staff was ill-equipped in IoJ&K to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic, but in contrast one Indian soldier was deputed for 10 Kashmiris.

“We also appeal to the UK government to put pressure on India to ensure medical facilities there and facilitate British Kashmiris so they can help their brothers in Indian occupied territory.”

Lord Hussain said the lockdown was not like the UK lockdown where people live with honour and safety in their homes. “In Kashmir people are being killed, arrested and beaten regularly by Indian forces in the name of Covid-19 lockdown, which is barbaric and inhuman,” he said, adding: “It is time for the world to come forward and play their role to settle the Kashmir dispute as per the wishes of Kashmiris.”

Lord Ahmed said India was following and working on anti-Muslim policies from Delhi to Srinagar. “In Kashmir, journalists are harassed and intimidated so imagine how Indians would have been dealing with the common Kashmiris in the Covid-19. We request the international community to come forward and ensure food and medicine supplies in IoJ&K in these hard times of Covid-19,” he said.