Pakistan on Wednesday denounced Indian authorities’ decision to declare two organisations of Indian-occupied Kashmir as “unlawful associations”, according to a Foreign Office statement.

A day earlier, the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs declared the Jammu and Kashmir Awami Action Committee (AAC), headed by Kashmiri chief cleric and Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and the Jammu and Kashmir Ittihadul Muslimeen (JKIM), headed by Maulana Mohammad Abbas Ansari, as “unlawful association” for the next five years, The Hindu reported.

Last year, Indian authorities had declared several political parties as “unlawful associations” as well, bringing the total of banned political parties to 14 in the occupied region. The decision was denounced by the FO at the time as well.

“Pakistan denounces the Indian authorities’ decision to declare the AAC and JKIM as ‘Unlawful Association’ for a period of five years,” the statement said.

“The AAC is led by a prominent political and religious leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. The JKIM was also founded by another notable political and religious leader, Maulana Mohammad Abbas Ansari, who headed it till his demise in 2022,” the statement continued.

It added that the recent decision increases the total number of outlawed Kashmiri political parties and organisations to 16.

“Banning of different political parties and organisations is yet another manifestation of the Indian authorities’ iron-fisted approach in the IOJK [Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir],” the FO said.

The statement noted that it reflected a desire to suppress political activities and stifle dissent in the region.

It also shows sheer disregard of democratic norms and international human rights law, it added.

“The Government of India is urged to remove the curbs on the Kashmiri political parties; release all the political prisoners; and faithfully implement the UN Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir,” the statement concluded.

Earlier in the month, the FO rejected recent remarks made by India’s foreign minister on Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) as “baseless claims” while asking his country to vacate the occupied areas of the region.

The statement came a day after India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, referring to AJK, said the Kashmir dispute would be solved after the “return of the stolen part of Kashmir which is under illegal Pakistani occupation”.

The Indian government had freed Mirwaiz Farooq in Sept 2023 after more than four years of house arrest. The 50-year-old was detained along with other political leaders and thousands of residents when the government cancelled occupied Kashmir’s constitutional semi-autonomy and imposed federal rule in 2019.