ISLAMABAD, Oct 18 (APP): Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq Tuesday urged the Secretary General of Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (PUIC) member states to demand an independent probe of genocide in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IHK).
Addressing the 36th meeting of the Executive Committee of PUIC in Ankara, Turkey, he in 2009, Kashmiri human rights activists had discovered around 3,000 unnamed mass graves in three districts of IOK with each grave having multiple corpses.
He said this shocking disclosure was further authenticated by a preliminary but comprehensive 112-page report, titled ‘Buried Evidence,’ which was published by an IOK-based NGO, the International People’s Tribunal, according to a message received here from Ankara.
The report, he said, exposed Indian occupation forces’ atrocities and blatant lies about cross-LOC infiltrations and fake encounters in which they had been killing indigenous Kashmiris by calling them foreign infiltrators.
“I strongly urge on the Secretary General PUIC to issue a demand for an independent probe into this genocide, led by Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission or jointly with UNHRC Geneva. I have provided a DVD on Mass Graves, which was produced by the United Kingdom’s Channel 4 TV, and the Report I mentioned. In the light of these documentary proofs, the IPHRC Team may meet the members of the ‘Association of the Parents of Disappeared’ to further corroborate facts,” he said.
Ayaz Sadiq said, now it had been almost seven decades that India had been trying to crush the genuine indigenous movement of Kashmiris for their right to self-determination.
“The Kashmiri Muslims have paid a huge price for their struggle.”
He informed the meeting that over the years, Indian occupation forces had martyred more than 100,000 Muslim Kashmiris, arrested some 130,000 who are languishing in Indian jails.
Besides, the NA Speaker said, over 20,000 Kashmiri men were missing with their fate unknown.
According to an estimate, he said the brutal Indian forces in IOK left 107,000 children orphaned, widowed 23,000 women, dishonoured around 11,000 women in mass rapes, and severely injured tens of thousands people as a result of continued torture.
“There is a systematic effort by India to bring about demographic change in Indian Occupied Kashmir. Already, the total percentage of Muslim population has, reportedly, gone down from 79 percent in 1947 to 68 percent , as of now,” he apprised the meeting participants.
Ayaz Sadiq said Indian efforts to equate Kashmiri Muslims’ self-determination movement with terrorism had been rejected by the OIC countries, for which “we deeply appreciate the leadership of all the OIC Members. By and large, International Community has also not subscribed to the Indian notion.”
As a matter of fact, he said, it was India that unleashed worst state terrorism against unarmed Kashmiri Muslims, which is manifested in the numerous draconian laws including the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1990 (AFSPA), Prevention of Terrorism Act 2002 (POTA), the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act 1990 (TADA) and J&K Public Safety Act 1978, enacted over the years to give limitless powers and immunity to its occupation forces from legal accountability.
He said the recent spate of terror, unleashed by the Indian forces in wake of the extrajudicial killing of teenager Kashmiri social media icon and leader of the Self-Determination Movement Burhan Muzaffar Wani needed immediate attention of the international community.
Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq said the gravity of the situation and intensity of Indian occupation forces’ worst ever atrocities in human history would be visible from the facts and some of short presentations he made before the august gathering.
“A brief slide show will show you all as to how the children have been butchered and blinded by the use of pellet guns. Please spare a few minutes to see the Indian brutalities against Kashmiri Muslims,” he said while showing video clips in the meeting.
The slide showed that over 100 people were killed, more than 800 received eye-injury with over 250 either blinded completely or particularly, while around 15,000 Kashmiris sustained multiple injuries.
It is unfortunate that in the face of such grave violations of human rights of Kashmiri Muslims, none of the proponents and standard bearers of human rights protection, be it international forums or states, particularly, the Western World, have condemned India, he regretted.
“But OIC as a Forum, OIC Contact Group on Kashmir, IPHRC and the Secretary General OIC not only strongly condemned India but also effectively raised voice for the Kashmiris’ rights and called upon India for immediate halt to the Kashmiris’
bloodshed.
UN HR Commissioner also recognized grievous situation and called for sending a ‘Fact Finding Mission’ to Indian Occupied Kashmir in his address to the 33rd Session of UNHRC in Geneva last month,” the NA speaker said.
He said Amnesty International’s offices in India were shut down when they expressed their concern over the grave situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir, adding that some of the members of civil society across Europe, North America and Nordic Region had held protest rallies and literary activities in support of Kashmiris.
Even from within India, he said, there had been severe reaction on the genocide of Kashmiri Muslims at the hands of Indian occupation forces.
He said India was desperately trying to deflect the International community’s focus on Indian Occupied Kashmir. “The Baloch card, which actually further exposed Indian involvement in destabilizing activities in Pakistan, heating up of Line of Control with war rhetoric, sabotaging of SAARC Summit in Pakistan and Uri attack, timing of which could only suit India, are some of the manifestations of Indian desperation.”
Ayaz Sadiq said Indian war mongering will endanger not just the South Asian region but also the world at large. Therefore, in the greater interest of peace and stability India should be stopped from heightening tension, he added.
“Up till now Pakistan has shown restraint but any aggression from India will meet with full force. My nation is ready to protect Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity at all costs,” he said, adding that the entire responsibility would be on India for any eventualities.
“International Community should focus on Indian belligerence and not Pakistan. It’s India that needs counselling.”
Concluding the speech, he said “Pakistan proposes inclusion of Kashmir dispute on the agenda of the 5th meeting of Standing Specialized Committee on Political Affairs to discuss implementation of longstanding UN Security Council’s Resolutions on Kashmir.”
To address the grave human rights situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir, he said Pakistan proposes inclusion of HR violations in IOK by India in the agenda of the Committee on Human Rights, Women and Family. Accordingly, he said, a
draft resolution had already been submitted before the meeting.
Ayaz Sadiq said the Parliament and people of Pakistan reaffirmed their complete solidarity and support to their Turkish brothers and sisters in their heroic struggle for protecting their democratic and constitutional rights.
