Kashmiris reject ruling

SRINAGAR: Kashmiris from across political spectrum have rejected the Indian Supreme Court’s verdict validating the Narendra Modi government’s illegal act of revoking the special status of Indian Illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIJOK) and reiterated to continue their struggle for right to self-determination as granted by the UN Security Council resolutions.

Senior leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has said that the Indian Supreme Court’s verdict on Article 370 was sad but not unexpected.

Mirwaiz Manzil posted on X, “370 verdict sad but not unexpected. Those people who at the time of the partition of the subcontinent, facilitated the accession of J&K and reposed their faith in the promises and assurances given to them by the Indian leadership must feel deeply betrayed.”

“For the rest the state as it existed in August 1947 remains divided on the ceasefire line, and hence continues to be a bleeding humanitarian and political issue,” it added.

According to Kashmir Media Service, All Parties Hurriyat Conference spokesman in a statement issued in Srinagar reacting to the verdict said that Indian government or its judiciary has no right to decide the legal status of the internationally-recognised disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir. The spokesman said that Kashmiris are not fighting for Articles 370 or 35A, instead they are fighting for complete freedom of Jammu and Kashmir from India’s illegal occupation.

Incarcerated senior leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, has urged the international community to take cognizance of the fast-deteriorating human rights situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

According to Kashmir Media Service, Shabbir Ahmed Shah in his message from New Delhi’s infamous Tihar jail voiced concern over the global community’s deafening silence on the abysmal situation in Kashmir and said that political, social, cultural and religious rights of the Kashmiri people remain critically suppressed.

Shah, while stressing the need for early and amicable settlement of the lingering Kashmir dispute, urged the international community to play its much-needed role to help resolve the dispute peacefully in accordance with the universally accepted principle of right to self-determination.

He maintained that India’s continuous denial to grant the Kashmiris their birth right had prevented the people of occupied territory from enjoying the fruits of liberty, experience of dignity and full benefits of freedom as enshrined in the UN charter, the Geneva Convention and other core international human rights treaties.

The APHC leader said that instead of reflecting a genuine desire to grant the Kashmiri people their promised right, the Indian rulers over the past 76 years tried to crush their legitimate struggle for the right to self-determination by using its military might.

For that matter, India has deployed massive troops in the disputed territory. These trigger-happy troops operating under the protection of draconian laws are resorting to extra-judicial killings, detentions, massacres, targeted killings, sieges, torture, enforced disappearances, rape and molestation, he deplored.

Shabbir Shah said since 5th August 2019, IIOJK has been turned into a hell for its inhabitants. “The suffocating conditions in which Kashmiris are forced to live were the greatest challenge for the world’s conscience. Kashmir is the only place in the world where humans live without human rights,” he said.

The APHC leader urged the international community to take cognizance of the Indian state terrorism in IIOJK and impress upon India to resolve the lingering Kashmir dispute in accordance with the Kashmiris aspirations for ensuring durable peace in the region.

Meanwhile, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Human Rights and Women Empowerment Mushaal Hussein Mullick has said that India has expressed its hatred for the Kashmiri people through the decision of the Supreme Court.

Mushaal Mullick in a video message said no one has given justice to the Kashmiris. The Indian Supreme Court’s decision was against the Geneva Convention and UN resolutions, she added.

She said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu have a competition over who will commit more massacres. The scope of RSS and Indian terrorism has spread to the entire world, she said, adding that the massacre of Kashmiris and Sikhs continues from India to Kashmir.

APHC leader Farida Bahenji in her statement in Srinagar said the decision of the Indian Supreme Court cannot change the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir. She said Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed territory which is yet to be resolved and there are many UN resolutions on it. The Indian Supreme Court, by upholding the Modi government’s decision, proved that it is a biased court.

APHC-AJK leader Altaf Hussain Wani said Kashmiris have no faith in Indian judiciary and contended that the Indian government or its parliament does not have the legal power to revoke Article 370 as Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed territory under UN Security Council resolutions.

APHC-AJK leader Altaf Ahmad Butt in his statement in Islamabad labelled the validation of Modi’s actions as yet another manifestation of a pliant judiciary, saying it is prioritizing Hindutva ideology over justice, especially in cases related to Muslims in India and Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

People’s Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti in a message on twitter said people of Jammu and Kashmir will not lose hope or surrender their rights after the verdict. She said that they would continue their struggle for restoration of their honour and dignity. She added that the Indian Supreme Court’s verdict was not an end of the road for them.

National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah said that he was not disheartened by the verdict and added that the struggle would continue. “Disappointed but not disheartened. The struggle will continue. It took the BJP decades to reach here. We are also prepared for the long haul,” he wrote on X.

Dal Khalsa leader Kanwar Pal Singh has said that Indian top court is not above politics and the Indian top court’s verdict, endorsing the Indian government’s decision to abrogate Article 370, has come on expected lines.

Kanwar Pal Singh in a statement issued in Amritsar, reacting to the verdict of the Indian Supreme Court on Article 370 abrogation in Kashmir said, the Kashmiri people have been deprived of their rights for the last several decades and it would have been naive to think that the apex court would overturn government’s arbitrary decision.

How can the Indian government or even the judiciary ignore the fact that the dispute is still on the agenda of the UN Security Council”, he added.