APHC bemoans imposition of autocratic rule, undeclared martial law in IIOJK

In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has condemned the upsurge in cordon and search operations carried out by Indian forces and said that these repressive measures are designed to suppress the freedom sentiments of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

The All Parties Hurriyat Conference in a statement issued in Srinagar said, Indian military and police along with non-Kashmiri bureaucrats are undemocratically ruling occupied Jammu and Kashmir while the people of occupied territory are being suppressed for raising their voice for inalienable right to self-determination.

The APHC said that the use of brute military force has failed to dent the morale of Kashmiris and they are determined to continue their freedom struggle with valor and integrity.

“The heavy deployment of more than one million occupation troops used against the civil population that has been demanding their legitimate rights is a brazen violation of international law and Human Rights Charter of 1948, adopted by the United Nations,” it maintained.

The APHC denounced the arbitrary arrests during the frequent cordon and search operations and said thousands of innocent people have been put behind bars without any legal trial. “There is no rule of law in the occupied territory and Bharatiya Janata Party backed administration is employing absolute autocratic rule and it has imposed undeclared martial law to subdue the freedom loving people of Kashmir,” it added.

The APHC urged the United Nations Human Rights Council and other human rights organisations to impress upon India to allow them to visit the besieged Kashmiri people to take stock of the grim situation prevailing in the territory.

Meanwhile, on the eve of Kunan Poshpora mass rape of February 23, 1991, APHC senior leader, Ghulam Ahmed Gulzar, said that the tragedy was well-planned conspiracy hatched by the Indian authorities to keep the Kashmiri women away from the freedom struggle.

Paying glowing tributes to the valiant Kashmiri women for their active participation and sacrifices in freedom movement, APHC leader said that Kashmiri women are the prime target of coward Indian forces. They are not only killed, tortured, imprisoned but raped also. “The rape of women is used as an tool by the Indian forces to punish, humiliate and intimidate the Kashmiris to force them into submission,” he added.

Indian troops had gang-raped around 100 women of all ages from eight to eighty on the night of February 23 in 1991 during a siege and search operation in Kunan Poshpora area of the district.

Meanwhile, Ghulam Ahmed Gulzar and other APHC leaders including Ghulam Muhammad Khan Sopori, Zamrooda Habib, Yasmeen Raja, Fahreeda Behanji, Dr Musaib have appealed to G-20 countries not to attend India’s planned event in occupied Jammu and Kashmir as India will use it to hide it’s state terrorism  and mislead the world about the real ground situation of the disputed territory.