Masood condemns false charges framed against Yasin Malik

F.P. Report

MIRPUR: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan Tuesday strongly denounced the false charges framed by a Terrorists and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA) court in a fake case registered against Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik and his companions in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK).

The AJK president, in a statement, said the charges made against Yasin Malik, in the 30-year old concocted case, were biased and spoke of the Indian government’s insecurities. Paying tribute to four young Kashmiris – Tariq, Muzaffar, Umar and Sajjad – martyred in a fresh act of Indian state-terrorism in Islamabad district of IOJK, he said the occupation troops under the guise of cordon and search operations were deliberately targeting the young Kashmiris by falsely painting them as terrorists.  The IOJK people were leading a peaceful struggle for their right to self-determination and liberation from the Indian occupation, which was an inalienable right of every human being, he added.

Strongly condemning the acts of cowardice, he said despite the lockdown already in place, Indian forces had sealed off the entry and exit points in Watrigam, Achabal and Islamabad areas of the IOJK. Such actions were further making the lives of the local populace miserable and tightening the noose around them.

The illegal and inhumane lockdown of IOJK, he said, should be brought to an end and the people living there might be given access to basic amenities and essential health facilities. “India has created a false impression of normalcy in the IOJK, which the world is not buying into. The lives of Kashmiri Muslims living in the IOJK have been brought to a brutal and unjust halt. This occupational lockdown in the name of security must end now,” he maintained.

Citing the visit of a three-member team of the Press Council of India to Srinagar, the AJK president said due to a communication lockdown, the media personnel had been banned from reporting the on-ground situation in the IOJK.  The journalists there were being tortured, harassed and intimidated by the Indian troops.

President Masood Khan also welcomed the recommendations of the International Human Rights Association of American Minorities made during a panel discussion on right to self-determination in Geneva, in which they demanded to move the matter of Kashmiris’ right to self-determination to the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion.

He said the international community must step forwards and stop the gross human rights violations taking place in the IOJK.