Pakistan welcomes joint statement by human rights organisations on Kashmir

Pakistan on Tuesday welcomed the joint statement by six human rights organisations calling on India to end the inhumane restrictions it has placed in occupied Kashmir since revoking the autonomy of the region last August.

According to the Foreign Office Spokesperson Aisha Farooqui, the statement calls on India to immediately release all arbitrarily detained prisoners and restore full high-speed internet access in the region.

“The joint statement rightly underlines that measures to combat coronavirus must respect human rights of every individual,” said the FO spokesperson. 

She added that the urgent release of political prisoners, human rights defenders and all those arrested in the disputed valley after August 5, 2019, is imperative.

The spokesperson stated that the statement expressed concern on the isolation of inmates from the outside world due to the communications blackout and ban on prison visits. 

She added that the organisations reminded India that allegations of torture against Kashmiri prisoners as part of a decades-long pattern of abuses have been repeatedly denounced by human rights and United Nations bodies.

Also read: At least 9 martyred in occupied Kashmir violence amid coronavirus lockdown

The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) led government in India on August 5 last year revoked of Article 370 of the Indian constitution which gave the special autonomy granted to Indian-occupied Kashmir.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu-nationalist party rushed through a presidential decree to scrap the special status for occupied Kashmir. It also moved a bill proposing the occupied valley be divided into two regions directly ruled by New Delhi.

Soon after the revocation of the special status New Delhi imposed a curfew and lockdown in the occupied territory.