European Union Parliament Members call for trade sanctions on India

MIRPUR (AJK): Sep 13 (APP):Welcoming the European Parliament’s decision of holding a debate on September 17, on the ugly situation in Kashmir at the Strasbourg plenary session, Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan has said that the decisions reflects growing concern in Europe over the deteriorating human rights situation in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

He was addressing a conference on Kashmir jointly organized by Friends of Kashmir Group in the European Parliament and the Jammu-Kashmir Self-Determination Movement, at the European Parliament in Brussels city of Belgium, according to an official statement released to the media on Friday.

Sardar Masood warned about prolonged siege turning into genocide. He said all the developments in the Indian occupied territory fit into the definition and criteria of genocide and called for swift action by the international community.

He briefed the audience about the implications of India’s unilateral decision to revoke articles 370 and 35-A.

The AJK president called upon the international community to take firm steps to check the abhorrent human rights violations at the hands of Indian forces in the held territory.
He stressed that trade relations with India should be linked to the human rights situation in occupied Kashmir.

Sardar Masood Khan thanked the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee for holding an in-camera meeting on Kashmir on the 2nd of this month, and expressed his gratitude to the subcommittee of the Human Rights Committee for holding an open hearing on the report on the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir released by the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights in February this year.

He also thanked the European Parliament for taking proactive initiatives on Kashmir and raising awareness about the deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation in the territory of Kashmir besieged by India.