Protesters pay tribute to Kashmir’s women outside No 10

LONDON: British Kashmiris and Pakistanis held a protest outside 10 Downing Street on Sunday to pay tribute to the oppressed women of Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K) who have been fighting for the right of self-determination.

According to a press release, the protesters gathered outside the Prime Minister’s residence despite the heavy rain. A large number of women and children also participated in the demonstration shouting slogans and holding placards having pictures of the oppressed and besieged Kashmiri women and children. The participants chanted slogans against the atrocities and persecution of Kashmiri women and children by Indian brutal forces.

Tehreek-e-Kashmir (TeK) UK President Raja Fahim Kayani said the present Indian regime is fascist, whose occupation forces have crossed the limits of brutality, killings and rape.

Kayani said Indian forces have widowed 22,911 women, molested 11,179 women, and orphaned 107,784 children till now. India has deployed a massive number of army troops to occupied Jammu and Kashmir using harassment as a weapon of war. The media and internet blackout are gross violations of human rights.

“These are the alarming facts, which are ignored by international organisations,” Kayani said. Global human rights organisations should take notice of the human rights abuses in IOJ&K, he added.

Kayani said the world has “double standards and contradictions [in its] policies”. Violence against women in IOJ&K, and elsewhere is clear proof of their double standards, he added.

On the occasion, Daughters of Kashmir Chairperson Zubaida Khan said the Indian army is committing the worst human rights abuses in IOJ&K. “Islam has given most rights to women. There is no example of the kind of brutality that the Indian occupation army is committing in IOJ&K. The international community and humanitarian organisations must step in and raise the voice for besieged Kashmiri women.”

Other human rights activists — Zanaib Khan, Tazeem Jaffari and Rani Arif — said they wanted to send a message to the people and women of IOJ&K that they are not alone in their freedom struggle.