Ambassador of Pakistan to Turkey, Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi, said that even without coronavirus pandemic the situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir defied description.

Speaking to Ilke News Agency about the Indian persecution in occupied Kashmir, Qazi said: “Kashmiris have been under internet communications, social media lockdown since August 2019. It is the longest period any group of people in the world have been deprived of basic human right of freedom of expression and opinion. And this is the first step of oppression that Indian state is imposing on the Kashmiris. Subsequent higher steps are: young people are being killed, political leadership is in prison, the fundamental rights of Kashmiris to the freedom of movement are denied. People cannot even go to the hospital. The schools have been closed. There are daily reports of extrajudicial, summary executions. Particularly young men are being tortured. When Kashmiris are able to come out and protest to demand their rights, lethal force is used against them. These are all things that happing before coronavirus pandemic.”

“The autonomy of Kashmir has been diluted by Indian Government”

Qazi went on to say: “And, of course, there is a political damage in which the autonomy of Kashmir has been diluted by Indian state by removing whatever little constitutional guarantees there were in the Indian constitution for the rights of Kashmiris. Coronavirus pandemic has just made the situation of Kashmiris worse. It is ironic, when the world faced with a crisis such as health pandemic, the natural tendency is to set aside political differences and to work together to mitigate the impact of such pandemic but unfortunately India has used this pandemic to further its own agenda of oppression against the Kashmiris. The internet blockage is stopping Kashmiris from getting the proper information about the pandemic. The restriction on the movement is stopping Kashmiris from accessing health facilities on account of suffering from coronavirus. The attention of the world is diverted to the works dealing with the crisis of coronavirus. India is increasing its oppression using this opportunity and this diversion of the world attention to further increase its oppression. There have been a number of young Kashmiri men who have been extrajudicially executed in the last month. I apologize for using this analogy but it is like when there is a fire in a place and somebody who is intent on stealing something uses this confusion to do that theft.”  

“Pakistan is not alone in its struggle against Indian atrocities”

Emphasizing that Pakistan is not alone in its struggle against Indian atrocities, Qazi added: “To name one, Pakistan has the support of Turkey, Turkey’s political leadership, the president Erdoğan himself, AK PARTY and all those. It is credit to Turkey that has not allowed political expediency or political interests to cloud its judgement about what is right or wrong. We, when I say we, I mean the Embassy, the government and people of Pakistan are deeply indebted to Turkey for this principled position. People in most parts of the world, not just Muslim world, parliaments, political parties, citizens, observers, academics, scholars, journalists have all spoken about the very disturbing trend that India has been exhibiting in the last particularly two years with regard to Muslims in India, with regard to oppression in Kashmir. This issue has gained a lot of coverage and attention. The world knows that there is something really rotten happening in Kashmir. And there is regular reporting on it. Of course, we would like the governments to be more vocal about it. They should take the lead from their own people and come out forthrightly. What is happing in Kashmir is unacceptable. Kashmiris should be given number one human rights and number two the right of self-determination. The denial of these rights is the actual reason of what is happening there.”

“The objective should be not just to speak about it but the objective should be to try to put an end to the injustice”

“The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has been following the situation very closely and has come out with very strong statements and reports as the occasion demanded. But, of course, when there is an oppression, when the rights of people are being denied, no amount of criticism is enough and no amount of reportation is enough. The objective should be not just to speak about it but the objective should be to try to put an end to the injustice. So, of course, there is a lot more that the world can do, there is a lot more that the OIC can do, there is a lot more that the Muslim countries can do. But at the same time, it is not like as if the plight of the Kashmiris is totally lost on the world.”

“There are United Nations Security Council resolutions relating to Kashmir”

Reminding the resolutions of UN Security Council relating to Kashmir, Qazi said: “For instances, to give you to elaborate the problem a little, There are United Nations Security Council resolutions relating to Kasmir, giving a very practicable solution to it: Just ask Kashmiris through a UN-administered plebiscite what they want. The members of The Security Council are therefore bound to take note of the situation to address the situation.” (ILKHA)