SRINAGAR (Kashmir English): Indian forces have martyred 930 children in their unabated acts of state terrorism in illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir over the past 37 years.
A report released by the Research Section of Kashmir Media Service on the occasion of the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression revealed that 930 children were among 96,449 Kashmiris martyred by Indian forces personnel from January 1989 till date.
The only meaningful way to mark the day is to protect Kashmiri children from political injustice, occupation and state violence.
The report stated that the killing of civilians by Indian forces personnel rendered 107,982 children orphaned in the internationally-recognized disputed territory during the period.
The report further said that thousands of people, including school boys and girls, were also injured by the use of brute force, pellets, bullets, and teargas shells fired by Indian troops and paramilitary forces.
Hundreds of persons, including teenagers, have lost eyesight in one or both eyes due to the firing of pellet, PAVA and teargas shells since 2010 in the territory.
Mental, physical health of Kashmiri children
The report said Indian military and police violence under black laws has left deep, lifelong scars on the mental and physical health of Kashmiri children. The children in IIOJK grow up watching atrocities, house raids, cordon and search operations and detentions of their loved ones.
The report added that hundreds of boys and girls aged below 19 have been martyred during cordon and search operations and fake encounters and in custody, while a large number of boys including students under the age of 19 are facing illegal detentions under black laws in different jails of occupied Kashmir and India.
Meanwhile, APHC spokesman Advocate Abdul Rashid Minhas, in a statement in Srinagar, said that while the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression is being observed around the world, a large number of minors are being abused and mistreated by Indian troops in IIOJK.
He called upon the United Nations, OIC, EU, human rights and child protection organizations to come forward and save the Kashmiri children from Indian violence. Indian troops not only arrest innocent children but also use them as a weapon of war, he said.
The world community must also play its role in resolving the Kashmir dispute according to the United Nations resolutions and aspirations of the Kashmiri people, he added.
He said Indian forces have orphaned and injured children in IIOJK over the last three decades, whose parents have been brutally martyred in fake encounters and in custody.
The statement said that violence, cruelties, and brutalities against Kashmiri children had been a well-thought-out plan of the Indian government, which was being carried out by the personnel of the Indian forces.
“The world must not ignore the suffering of Kashmiri children on ‘International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression’, the statement stressed.
