‘India imposed strict restrictions on media in IOJ&K to hide its crimes’

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Wednesday said the Indian occupation forces had imposed strict restrictions on freedom of expression to hide its crimes against humanity from the international community. Addressing a function organized by the National Press Club to express solidarity with the besieged Kashmiri media persons, she said in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K), over 8 million Kashmiris were incarcerated while the local press was facing the worst type of censorship. The media persons belonging to independent newspapers and television channels were not allowed to freely report the Indian state terrorism in the valley, she added. Dr Firdous said the Kashmiris were deprived of their religious, legal, constitutional and all other fundamental rights by the Indian occupation forces as a punishment for demanding the right to self-determination promised by the United Nations with solemn commitments given by the Indian leadership. The Kashmiris, she said, had given unprecedented sacrifices in the freedom struggle. Thousands of youth were abducted and killed while thousands of women were raped for demanding of freedom from the Indian yoke, she added. The SAPM said the Kashmiris’ struggle for freedom could not be suppressed by India for long and the day would come soon when they would get rid of the Indian subjugation. She said in the past, India used to hoodwink the international community on the Kashmir issue, but now Prime Minister Imran Khan as an ambassador of the Kashmiris, had exposed its real face while presenting Pakistan’s narrative on the matter. She said the media was a powerful and effective tool for highlighting the ground situation in the IOJ&K. She said in the morning she led a rally of Pakistani women from all walks of life to express solidarity with their brave sisters and children of the IOJ&K. She presented a memorandum to the United Nations Country Representative in Pakistan calling for halting Indian atrocities in the IOJ&K and ending its lockdown. She urged the UN to break its silence over the ongoing gross human rights abuses by India in Occupied Kashmir. Separately, Firdous said that Pakistani women from all walks of life had organised a rally in Islamabad to express solidarity with their brave sisters and children of the Indian Occupied and Jammu Kashmir (IOJ&K) and renew the pledge to continue support for the cause of Kashmir till freedom from the Indian yoke. Addressing the rally at the starting point, which marched towards the UNHCR office, she said the women, including parliamentarians, members of the civil society, working journalists and housewives, had gathered here along with their children to express solidarity with the Kashmiri women and children, who were deprived of all fundamental rights including religious, human and constitutional rights. She said they would make a human chain to express solidarity with the Kashmiri women, who had been victimized by the Indian occupation forces, using rape as a weapon of war. The observance of solidarity day meant to give a message to the international community that Pakistan would continue its support for the cause of Kashmiris and nobody could deny them their right to self-determination, she added. She said various activities had been organized all over the country, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir, to express solidarity with the IOJ&K people and shake the world’s conscience for an end to the illegal Indian occupation of the valley. Dr Firdous urged the United Nations, human rights organizations and international media to play their due role in highlighting the plight of Kashmiris. The SAPM said Prime Minister Imran Khan was advocating the cause of Kashmiri people at all international fora as their advocate and ambassador, and exposing the Indian face before the world. She said the day was no far when they would see the dawn of freedom. Later, Dr Firdous presented a memorandum highlighting the oppression of Indian armed forces in the IOJ&K, to UN Resident Representative in Pakistan Julien Harneis. The memorandum emphasized that 5th February was being observed around the world to express solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir. It stated that the IOJ&K people were living under a state of siege for more than seven decades of cruel and illegal Indian occupation. Honouring the courageous and valiant people of IOJ&K and paying tribute to all those men, women and children, who had laid down their lives fighting for their right of self-determination over seven decades, the memorandum underscored that Jammu and Kashmir was an internationally recognized dispute that had been and continued to be on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) since 1948, and reaffirmed by the subsequent relevant UNSC resolutions. Recognizing that any political process held under the foreign occupation cannot be a substitute to the exercise of the right to self-determination by the people of the Jammu and Kashmir as provided in the relevant UNSC resolutions, the memorandum reaffirmed that Pakistan’s consistent political, moral and diplomatic support would continue to the Kashmiri people until the realization of their legitimate right to self-determination as per the relevant UNSC resolutions. The memorandum strongly condemned the unilateral and illegal actions of the Indian Government of August 5 and October 31, 2019 and the subsequent illegal detentions, arrests, lockdown, communications blockade, media blackout in the 1OJ&K, which had brought immense sufferings to its people. The memorandum expressed grave concern at the continued presence of more than 900,000 military personnel thereby turning the entire valley into a virtual open air prison, and making it one of the most militarized areas of the world. It condemned the past and present Indian atrocities, and violations of fundamental freedoms and basic human rights of the people of IOJ&K. It also condemned the crimes against humanity by the Indian occupation forces in IOJ&K resulting in the killing of more than 100,000 Kashmiris, widowing of around 22,000 women, rape of over 12,000 women and girls. Around 108,000 children had been orphaned due to Indian atrocities in the 1OJ&K. Denouncing detention of over 13,000 Kashmiri children in undisclosed locations in the IOJ&K and rest of India, it condemned the use of pellet guns and live fire-arms by the Indian security forces against innocent civilians, including young children resulting in mass blindings. The memorandum deplored harassment of medical staff attending the pellet gun victims in the IOJ&K, and condemned torture and humiliation of the ordinary civilians by the Indian security forces in the occupied valley. It strongly condemned the horrifying violence against women, including rape, braid-cutting and other forms of torture, and denounced the use of rape of women in the 1OJ&K as a weapon of war by the occupation forces. Underscoring that Indian atrocities in the IOJ&K against women and girls were sheer violation of the UNSC Resolution 1325, the memorandum expressed concern on trauma reports by reputed international organizations and civil society about stressful mental and physical health of Kashmiri people, especially women and children.