Pakistan’s Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said the recent statements of United Kingdom (UK) lawmakers about the grave situation in Indian occupied Kashmir is a manifestation that Kashmir is not an internal matter of India but an international dispute. He expressed hope that a similar voice in favor of Kashmiri people will be raised in the US Congress after the new government under Biden leadership assumes its responsibility next week.
In a statement on Friday, he said the remarks of UK lawmakers have once again exposed the real face of the Indian government. He said it is an endorsement of Pakistan’s narrative on Kashmir dispute and foreign policy success, reported Radio Pakistan
Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the situation in occupied territory is very terrible as people are subjected to brutal oppression. Thousands of innocent people are in jails without any legal trial.
FM Qureshi said international media and independent monitors should be allowed to visit the occupied territory to assess the ground reality.
Recently, Amnesty International stated that the Indian government is widely misusing a law allowing for detention without trial in Occupied Kashmir. Human rights organizations have been repeatedly saying that India is violating international law and targeting the civilian population across India occupied Kashmir.
The Indian government invited far-right EU lawmakers to Kashmir, which has been under lockdown since August 5. The move may have backfired pic.twitter.com/JY0bxbTDi6
— TRT World (@trtworld) October 31, 2019
The head of Amnesty International India Aakar Patel said the Public Safety Act is a “lawless law” under which the authorities hold children, old people and the disabled. He said this act is contributing to inflaming tensions between the state authorities and local populace and must be immediately repealed.
Read more: Kashmir: India’s Human Rights violations from “pellet guns” to “Killer gangs”?
According to the statement, the Public Safety Act circumvents the criminal justice system in Kashmir to undermine accountability, transparency and respect for human rights. It said that the text of the PSA violates several of India’s obligations under international human rights law, including respecting detainees’ fair trial rights.
International community wants peace in Kashmir
The international community has raised its concerns over the brutalities being committed by India. Recently, European Parliament stood up for the people of Kashmir. “Members of European Parliament called on India to immediately put a halt to its atrocities in Indian Occupied Kashmir and carry out investigations into the incidents of grave human rights violations.”
The report of the United Nations’ Office of High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) on Kashmir recently concluded that the situation in India occupied Kashmir is worst. Christine Chung, one of the authors of the report was invited to the event by the sub-committee. It is worth noting here that the OHCHR issued it’s first-ever report on the situation in Kashmir June 14, 2018.
Members of European Parliament called on India to immediately put a halt to its atrocities in Indian Occupied Kashmir and carry out investigations into the incidents of grave human rights violations. pic.twitter.com/MIbrRULsqJ
— Government of Pakistan (@GovtofPakistan) February 20, 2019
The report highlights the protests after the martyrdom of Burhan Wani in 2016 and the brutal use of pellet guns against protesters among the human rights violations in Indian-held Kashmir. The report noted that Indian armed forces not only use force indiscriminately but also rape and humiliate Kashmiri women. A member of the European Parliament also called on India “to end violence against women & children in IOK. Voices of Kashmiri women & children must be heard.”
India has recently been exposed not only because of its role in the occupied Kashmir but also because of its relentless propaganda against Pakistan.
India spreading anti-Pakistan propaganda
Notably, the EU DisinfoLab, a European NGO tackling disinformation, has recently published its findings on a vast network of fake local news sites in over 65 countries serving Indian interests by repeatedly criticizing Pakistan. A summary of the report has some eye-opening facts for Pakistan.
The websites which are more than 265 in number, are designed to influence the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) with the objective of damaging Pakistan, according to the report.
In early October, the European External Action Service’s (EEAS) East StratCom Task Force — or the EU Disinformation Task Force — had revealed that eptoday.com, which covers European Parliament (EP) in Brussels, was plagiarizing news from Russia Today and Voice of America since a long time.
Most of the plagiarized content included articles and op-eds related to minorities in Pakistan and India-related matters. Surprisingly, it was discovered that the monthly publication was owned by Indians, with links to numerous think tanks, NGOs, and entities from the Srivastava Group.
The group’s Internet Protocol (IP) address was home to an obscure online media outlet, New Delhi Times, as well as the International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies (IINS), both of which were tracked to the same location in the Indian city of New Delhi.
Read more: Human Rights: The tragedy of Indian occupation in Kashmir
So far, the analysis shows timesofgeneva.com targeting the UN and EP Today targeting the EU. The publications have been active for several years now. The investigators also found 4newsagency.com, which is a “synergy between 4 news agencies from Switzerland, Belgium, Thailand, and Abu Dhabi (UAE)”, with its teams spreading over 100 countries. It operates in the same mode as EP Today and timesofgeneva.com.