IIOJK people being victimized for demanding right to self-determination: Shabbir Shah

Incarcerated senior leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Shabbir Ahmad Shah while expressing serious concern over the deteriorating political and human rights situation in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir has said that the Kashmiri people are suffering persecution at the hands of Narendra Modi-led Indian government for demanding their birthright to self-determination.

Shabbir Ahmad Shah in a message from New Delhi’s infamous Tihar Jail while referring to the rising incidents of raids, cordon and search operations, arrests, seizure of properties and other brutalities in the territory said the Modi regime is attempting to silence the legitimate political voices of the people in IIOJK through such brutal measures.

He said the Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders and activists are being put behind bars for their political beliefs, adding that top pro-freedom leaders have been implicated in false cases to discredit them. He said that the Modi government was using its dreaded probe agencies like National Investigation Agency (NIA) as a weapon to implicate Kashmiris the Kashmiris in false cases to silence their voice for freedom.

Shabbir Shah said its latest example is the plea filed by the NIA in Delhi High Court demanding that JKLF chief Muhammad Yasin Malik’s life sentence be converted into a death penalty. He maintained that last year’s conviction of Yasin Malik by an Indian court through sham trial was nothing but political vendetta. He added that the Indian judiciary bypasses all the principles of law & justice when it comes to convicting the freedom-loving people of IIOJK. He said Modi must remember that legitimate political voices could not be suppressed by caging leaders or sending them to the gallows.

The incarcerated APHC leader said that the world human rights organizations must take notice of unfair trials of Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders and activists in the biased Indian courts. He also urged the international community to play its role in facilitating a just and peaceful settlement of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people for ensuring durable peace in South Asia.