Srinagar: In occupied Kashmir, the Chairman of Hurriyat forum, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has thanked the members of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for their continuous support to the right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
As per a statement issued by the Hurriyat forum in Srinagar, the Mirwaiz had written a letter to the OIC Secretary General, Dr Yousuf Al-Othaimeen which was read by Syed Faiz Naqshbandi at the 44th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers held in Abidjan city of Cote D’Ivore. The Mirwaiz also thanked the OIC for invitation and expressed his regret for not being able to attend the summit due to non-availability of travel documents.
Mirwaiz’ letter said, “The people of Kashmir for the past seven decades have been relentlessly struggling for the exercise of their right to self-determination accorded to them under United Nations Charter and the resolutions passed by UN Security Council on Kashmir dispute as they continue to give huge sacrifices of life, property and what not for the achievement of this right.â€
“As the world is aware our legitimate right and aspirations are being ruthlessly trampled under the jackboots of Indian forces. Even our basic human rights are suspended by the state’s coercive machinery. Use of brutal force on protestors, incarceration of political leaders and activists, repeated house arrest of resistance leadership including myself, repeated imposition of curfew and severe restrictions by authorities has become a routine in Kashmir,†the letter said. It said repeated communication and Internet bans and blockades is the norm of the day so that information about abuses and violence on people gets suppressed.
Referring to 2016 mass uprising, the Mirwaiz said, “120 civilians were killed in cold blood, hundreds deprived of their vision – either completely or partially – by pellet firing, more than eighteen thousand people injured many among them maimed for life while tens of thousands arbitrarily arrested and thrown in jails by Indian forces and agencies in Kashmir while the whole valley was put under continuous curfew for months together. Such was the brutality of pellets guns used to blind civilians that New York Times declared it as the Year of dead eyes in Kashmir.â€
“In 2017, till date 55 civilians have been killed and hundreds injured by bullets and pellets on Kashmir streets while arbitrary arrests continue along with ransacking and destruction of people’s homes and properties.†The Hurriyat Chairman said that instead of accepting the ground reality in Kashmir, India was using coercion, suppression and arm-twisting tactics to deny the people of Jammu and Kashmir their legitimate right.
He appealed to the OIC to come forward for the people of Jammu and Kashmir and impress upon India to put an end to atrocities on Kashmiris and give them their right to self-determination.
