Washington, DC: The World Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKAF) while condemning the Indian government’s continued Hindutva fascist assault on the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has said that the Modi government seems to be bent on suppressing the voices of Kashmiris and anyone else who raises a finger against its settler-colonial agenda and blatant human rights abuses in the region.
In a detailed statement issued in responses to the actions of the Indian government in Jammu and Kashmir, WKAF said, ” In recent days, India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) has carried out surprise raids in Jammu & Kashmir and across India on the business offices of various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and media outlets, as well as the offices and residences of human rights activists, political opponents, and journalists”. These raids it said have now become the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s favored tools, used to investigate the alleged use of funds collected “for secessionist and separatist activities.”
WKAF strongly condemned raids on vocal civil society members, rights activists, journalists and media outlets in Kashmir saying that these critical and truthful voices have been at the forefront of extensive reporting on human rights abuses in Kashmir. “The WKAF condemns these raids unequivocally and calls on men and women of conscience worldwide, particularly international human rights advocacy groups and other NGOs, to redouble their efforts in highlighting the ongoing human rights abuses in the Indian occupied Kashmir, and to demand that the government in New Delhi work for a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir dispute”, the statement said adding that the Indian state’s new repressive measures may bring temporary silence among Kashmir’s besieged population and their supporters, but it will never buy their allegiance to India.
“Prolonging the settlement of the Kashmir dispute the WKAF said would bring peace neither to India nor to South Asia, and will prolong the unnecessary suffering of thousands of innocent civilians.”, the statement added.
