Pakistan denounces fresh round of curbs on political parties in IIOJK

• India bans JKLF-Yasin Malik faction for five more years.  
• FO urges Indian govt to lift curbs on banned Kashmiri parties.
• Oppressive tactics can't suppress aspirations of Kashmiris: FO   

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday condemned New Delhi’s decision declaring the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Freedom League (JKPFL) and four factions of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples League (JKPL) as “unlawful associations”.

In a statement, Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch also denounced the decision to extend the ban on Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (Yasin Malik faction) for five more years.

India’s ongoing campaign to crush dissent in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) contravened the international human rights and humanitarian law as well as democratic norms, the spokesperson  said.

“The government of India is urged to lift the curbs on the banned Kashmiri parties; release all the political prisoners, including Yasin Malik; and implement the UN Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir,” she reiterated.

With the fresh notifications, a total of 14 Kashmiri political parties have become outlawed in the IIOJK. The affiliates of these parties are also facing persecution.

In addition to this, a death penalty has been sought for Yasin Malik, who was awarded a life sentence in 2022.

“However, such oppressive tactics cannot suppress the Kashmiri people’s aspirations for realisation of their inalienable right to self-determination, as enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions,” read the statement.