MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has strongly condemned the arrest of two sons of the martyred Kashmiri leader Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, describing it as yet another manifestation of the worst form of fascism by India.

Mr Sehrai, a close aide of the veteran Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Geelani, had died in Indian custody in Jammu on May 5. His two sons Mujahid Sehrai and Abdur Rashid Sehrai were arrested from their residence in Barzulla Baghat, Srinagar, in connection with a false case registered against them on May 6 in a police station in their native village.

Reacting sharply over the despicable police action, the AJK president said the arrests were made at a time when the family of the late leader was mourning his custodial killing at the hands of Indian authorities.

He, however, maintained that such brutal and inhuman acts of the Indian government would fail to deter the Kashmiri youths from carrying on their legitimate liberation struggle. “Freedom and the right to self-determination are fundamental human rights of the Kashmiri people and they will continue their struggle for the realisation of these rights,” he said.

Mr Khan reiterated his call to the UN Security Council to implement its resolutions on Kashmir and fulfill its commitment to the Kashmiris by holding a free, fair and impartial plebiscite in the disputed Himalayan region.

He also appealed to the UN Human Rights Council and other international human rights watchdogs to take stock of the massive human rights violations by the Indian forces in the occupied territory and hold India accountable for it.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2021