Riffat Wani writes letter to German Chancellor to highlight human rights violations in IHK

BERLIN:(Parliament Times)  Riffat Gul Wani, a noted human rights activist of Kashmir has written letter to the Chancellor of Federal Republic of Germany to highlight massive human rights violations in Occupied Kashmir by Indian security forces. In his letter to Chancellor of Federal Republic of Germany she said that as a human rights activist, she believed that silence was a kind of consent to the day-to-day crimes in Kashmir by Indian Government. The letter reads “we have witnessed a dangerous turn of incidents this summer in Kashmir with the massive human rights violations by Indian forces. I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the Federal Republic of Germany for being an advocate of human rights globally. The international community including the Government of Germany should not allow themselves to be a party to the Indian propaganda that seek to further legitimize the Indian occupation in Jammu  Kashmir. The Nuremberg principles clearly established that to be complicit in crime is to commit crime under international law. There is no place for silence. There is no place for passive collaboration that seeks to be unmindful of the real issues that face people.” An illegal occupation cannot be ignored or conveniently forgotten. She demanded that the Federal Republic of Germany must take serious notice of the fact that the Indian State disregarded a European Parliament resolution, of July 2008, which urged the Government of India to hold an investigation into the alleged mass/unidentified graves in Kashmir, and called upon the European Commission to offer financial and technical assistance to the Government of India for the said purpose, letter reads. “The Federal Republic of Germany must be sensitive to the fact that the people of Jammu and Kashmir want peace and normalcy, but as real concepts that flow from, and are necessarily linked to ideas of justice, dignity, freedom and political choice. Kashmir is a disputed territory recognized by world community (18 resolutions of UN is the reference of the disputed status of Jammu Kashmir and its right to self-determination) including European Union”, it added. It was historically never part of India as Indians have been claiming. The people of Jammu  Kashmir take immense pride in our rich history of resisting oppression. We also have historically cultivated a sublime tradition in, and love for humanity which appeals to the higher truths of love, justice, dignity, and peace; which genuinely acknowledges the long suffering, and yet bravely resisting Kashmiris against perpetrators of crimes, as heinous as murder, rape, and torture, to the local collaborators of the State and perhaps some powerless, vulnerable and compliant few. The people of Jammu and Kashmir have been subject to an occupation by the Indian State since 1947. These 70 years have exposed the people to various shades and faces of the Indian occupation, it added. Following the extra judicial killing of young Kashmiri revolutionary Burhan Wani on the 8th of July, protests broke out throughout the valley. The people of Kashmir wanted to grieve the loss of someone they held in high regards, but Indian forces barred them from mourning by using indiscriminate, excessive and disproportionate force against the unarmed civilians during this period. Indian troops have been using excessive, indiscriminate and disproportionate force against civilians in occupied Kashmir. They have been targeting everyone including women, children and the elderly. Indian forces attack children, women and men even inside their homes. They molest and harass women. Indian forces have been captured on live videos damaging properties, setting apples and paddy fields on fire, looting valuables, attacking ambulances, hospitals staff and patients in hospitals or on the roads, letter further reads. “These are not just accusations while there are well- documented evidences and videos to prove all these barbarian and gruesome army crimes. Those videos have already been widely circulated on social media. During the last 120 days curfew, more than 15,000 persons were injured and nearly about 100 people were killed. More than one thousand people were injured in the eye with pellet guns resulting in 300 innocents lost their eyesight. The victims mostly were teenage school going children. More than 10, 000 people including children have been arrested. The international figure and human rights activist “Khurram Pervez” has also been arrested. He has been banned to travel to Geneva UNHRC meeting where he was scheduled to deliver a presentation in regard to the brutal, barbaric and gruesome human rights crimes committed by the Indian forces in Kashmir. He has been detained as per black law PSA (Public Safety Act) without any trial. There is a siege-like situation in Kashmir as Indian forces have clamped a continuous curfew for the past four months.”