National News

ISLAMABAD, (APP): Protests and rallies continue in
held Kashmir on Wednesday despite the imposition of curfew in the
valley for the past 47 days.
Dozens of protesters were injured in pellet firing by Indian
armed forces’ personnel on anti-India protest rallies in Shopian,
Nowgam, Bandipora, Sopore, Rafiabad, Baramulla, Dapan and other
areas of the territory, private news channel reported.
The protesters waved Pakistani flags and raised anti-India
and pro-freedom slogans. Liberation leaders including Sikh leader,
Narender Singh addressing thousands of people during a protest
rally in Badgam urged the international community to stop India
from committing violence in Kashmir. An official residence of an
Indian army-backed Ikhwan’s member was attacked in Bandipora.
In another development, two Special Police Officers publicly
resigned from the police jobs in Sopore and announced to join the
Intifada in Kashmir.
The Chairman of Hurriyet forum, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, sent an
SOS letter to Pope Francis in Vatican, the Dalai lama , Imam Kaba,
Shankaracharya and ambassadors of various countries in New Delhi,
UN, EU and OIC regarding the urgent and grave situation in J&K.
Appealing to the international community and to civil society that
they cannot remain silent spectators to what is happening in
Kashmir, Mirwaiz in the letter said “APHC believes that a war is
being waged against us by the `democratic’ Indian state, in total
violation of all democratic norms.”
The letter reads, “The entire population of the Valley is
barricaded inside their homes. Mobile phones and internet
connectivity has been disconnected. The Press has been gagged.
Journalists are attacked and harassed on a daily basis. Families
are in intense distress without information about their loved
ones. Hospitals have been attacked and ambulance drivers shot at
with grave consequences for expectant mothers and those needing
emergency medical attention. Essential supplies have been blocked,
and media operations banned.”
“Kashmir is akin to a tinder box at present, with extreme
volatility in the political situation and without timely
international intervention the consequences are bound to be
ghastly. The Indian state is also making the citizens of India
complicit in this brutality by obfuscating and denying them
information. There is an embargo on information coming out from
Kashmir. Social network sites like Facebook have been forced to
remove vital information from their sites under pressure from
Indian netizens. No international human rights organization is
being allowed into Kashmir for fear of exposure.”
“The Indian PM attempts to delegitimize our long term
struggle – which began even before India’s struggle for freedom –
by equating it with terrorism, through an irresponsible and false
discourse. Unfortunately, the Indian state constructs its foreign
policy on this bluster. 9/11 provided the Indian state an excuse
to put the Kashmir struggle under the rubric of terror. In the
post 9/11 Islamophobic environment it fits well with the broader
narrative. Kashmir happens to be a Muslim majority territory and
India is using it as a pretext to demonize people as terrorists
and miscreants.”
“This is a call for help to find a solution to this
seemingly intractable problem which is taking a massive human
toll. India and Pakistan cannot and are not able to do this on
their own,” the letter reads.
The occupied territory is on the boil since the extra-
judicial murder of the top commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, Burhan
Wani, by Indian troops on July 8.
Atleast 83 people have been killed while over 80,00 injured
so far in the firing of bullets, pallets, and teargas shells on
peaceful protesters by Indian troops and police personnel
It is being termed as the worst violence to hit the
Himalayan region since 2010.
Kashmir is split between India and Pakistan along a UN-
monitored line of control, but both claim it in full and have
fought two wars over its control.
Freedom fighters have fought Indian security forces in
Kashmir since 1989 for the independence of the region or for it to
be made part of Pakistan.
The conflict has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians,
dead.