MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan on Monday reiterated his call to the United Nations asking to constitute a fact-finding commission to investigate gross violations of human rights in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

“We strongly condemn the cold-blooded murder of three Kashmiri youths [in Pulwama], dismantling of residential houses of peaceful citizens, growing incidents of molestation of women at the hands of India’s brute occupation machinery and call upon the UN Human Rights Council to probe into these incidents through a fact-finding commission,” he said in a statement.

“New Delhi must shun the policy of brute violence against freedom-loving people, accept the realities of the Kashmir issue and find a solution to the dispute in keeping with the aspirations of the Kashmiris,” he added.

Indian atrocities against defenceless Kashmiri people had increased manifold in recent days, Mr Khan said, adding this all proved that the rulers in New Delhi were pursuing a strategy to perpetuate its occupation instead of addressing the core issue through dialogue and negotiation.

He said youth was being killed in fake encounters after being declared terrorists, sexual violence against women was being used as a weapon of war and importation of India’s Hindu citizens into the internationally acknowledged disputed state was being done without any pause.

“India’s rulers should remember that their cruel, barbaric and inhumane acts in the occupied state have failed to produce them desired results in the past and the same will also remain unproductive in the future,” he said, adding Kashmiris are determined to struggle for their right to self-determination.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2021