By Mirwaiz Umar Farooq

Mirwaiz-Umar-Farooq-during-a-press-conference

In view of the prevailing situation in Kashmir, Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has written a letter to the general secretary of the United Nations Ban Ki Moon for effective intervention to stop the killing spree and massacre of unarmed civilian population in Kashmir. KL reproduces the letter in larger public interest:

Excellency Ban ki Moon 

Secretary General

United Nations

New York, USA

Sub: For effective intervention to stop the killing spree and massacre of unarmed civilian population in Kashmir.

Excellency:

Owing to the extremely volatile and grave situation prevailing in Kashmir for the last few days in which 33 unarmed civilians have lost their lives and about fifteen hundred injured in the indiscriminate firing by the Indian forces, it is my duty to draw your attention towards the situation by informing you about the brutalities and atrocities being committed on the people of Kashmir.

The oppression of the state’s coercive machinery has touched a new high. In the last three days, 35 unarmed protesting civilians mostly young men and children have fallen to the bullets of the trigger happy cops of Indian administrative establishment and 1500 injured while protesting against the atrocities being committed on the people of Kashmir. Almost hundred young boys hit by pellet guns have lost sight in either one or both eyes.

The reports reveal that all the persons killed in the forces firing have received bullets in the upper parts of the body even some being shot in the head. From this it is clear that bullets had not been shot with the intention to disperse the protestors. Had it been so then fire would be have aimed at legs to injure and not to kill. The bullets were obviously shot with the intention to kill.

The killing of the people especially youth in Kashmir is intentionally being done, under a well orchestrated plan, to eliminate the young generation of Kashmiris so as to make the majority population of Kashmir demographically vulnerable. More than a hundred thousand Kashmiris have been killed by the Indian forces in the two and a half decade and the current spree of killings is the part of the same plan.

In their zeal to cow down people, the forces of the Indian establishment in Kashmir are not sparing even the ambulances and hospitals. In the evening of 11 July 2016 ambulances outside Srinagar’s main hospitals SMHS and SKIMS were attacked with teargas shells by the forces further injuring the already injured persons who were being carried to hospital. The forces also raided the hospital wards and thrashed the injured undergoing treatment there and their attendants.

Enjoying complete impunity and protection from prosecution for killing the people of Kashmir, under the black laws like Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and Disturbed Areas Act the government forces see no reason to respect any rights even the basic right to life of the people and without any accountability freely point their guns at the people and shoot them to kill.

What happened in the last few days indicates that the Indian authorities in Kashmir have actually waged a war against the unarmed civilian population of Kashmir killing and injuring the people indiscriminately protesting against the atrocities being committed on them.

Almost all the resistance leadership have either been placed under house confinement or put in Jails by the authorities. Strict curfew and restrictions are in place. The whole population of Kashmir is up in protest against the brutalities being committed on them and also against their forcible occupation by India’s mighty military power which has turned berserk to force the people of Kashmir into submission.

The situation right now is highly volatile and the volume of protests is expending day by day, as is the brutality of the state by firing more and more bullets.

No doubt India claims to be largest democracy of the world but the people of Kashmir have never seen the democratic face of India. Instead of respecting the democratic values and wishes of the people, right from 1947 the Indian face in Kashmir has chosen to trample the democratic rights, the wishes and aspirations of the people of Kashmir as well as their urge to shape their political future by using ruthless force and other tactics of occupational forces like killing, enforced and involuntarily disappearances, torture, rape and destruction of property to make the people to give up their just struggle.

For these reasons the people of Kashmir have always considered Indian presence in Kashmir as an occupation against their will which they want to end.

Excellency:

The present shocking and dangerous situation in which killing of unarmed civilians is going on un-abated in Kashmir demands an effective political intervention at the international level so as to end the current spree and atrocities in Kashmir and ensuring the safety of the lives and respect of their human and civil rights.

Being the Executive Head of an Institution which bears the responsibility for peace keeping and for ensuring the respect for the human rights and human values in the world, I urge you to hear the heart-rending cries of the people of Kashmir for the protection from the brutalities they are subjected to.

I urge your excellence to intervene effectively to address the situation and play the role expected from the high office of yours to take the measures to resolve the long pending issue on the UN agenda, the issue of Kashmir which has remained and continues to remain main threat to the peace, stability, prosperity and respect for human as well as civil rights in the entire south Asian region.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq

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