SRINAGAR (Kashmir English): The level of Indian state terrorism and atrocities in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) has witnessed an alarming rise following the illegal abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A by the BJP government under the barrel of the gun on August 5, 2019.
An analytical report released by the Research Section of Kashmir Media Service revealed that Indian forces—including the army, Rashtriya Rifles, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), and other paramilitary personnel—have martyred 1,050 Kashmiris, including 22 women and 45 children, since August 2019.
Deaths in Indian custody
The report stated that 287 of them were killed in custody and fake encounters. Prominent Hurriyat leaders, including Syed Ali Gilani, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, Altaf Ahmed Shah, and Ghulam Muhammad, also died in Indian custody during this period.
The report added that 2,660 people were injured due to the use of brute force by Indian army, paramilitary, and police personnel against peaceful protesters, while 33,141 others, including Hurriyat leaders, activists, students, journalists, religious scholars, and human rights defenders, were arrested.
Most of the arrested youth were booked under draconian laws such as the Public Safety Act (PSA) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
It further said that Indian forces destroyed 1,168 residential houses and other structures and molested 139 women.
The report pointed out that the killings since 05 August 2019 have been higher than those recorded in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2019.
It maintained that the lives of Kashmiris have been made economically, politically, and socially miserable, with the illegal move aimed at changing the Muslim-majority status of the territory into a minority.
According to the report, Indian forces martyred two Kashmiris and arrested 62 others in January alone.
The IIOJK administration, under the direct control of New Delhi-appointed Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, continued punitive measures by attaching properties, including homes and lands, of over a dozen Kashmiris in January. Additionally, six Kashmiri Muslim employees were suspended from their government jobs as part of the ongoing anti-Kashmir policies of the BJP regime.
Members of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, in a meeting in Srinagar, said grave human rights violations—including killings, extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests, torture, and destruction and seizure of property—have surged to an alarming level in IIOJK following the Modi-led Hindutva government’s illegal revocation of the territory’s special status.
The meeting stressed the settlement of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with relevant UN resolutions to end the ongoing genocide of Kashmiris at the hands of Indian forces, said spokesman Adv. Abdul Rashid in a statement issued from Srinagar.
They added that Indian brutalities cannot force Kashmiris to abandon their just struggle for their internationally-recognized right to self-determination.
