Day: December 24, 2021

Jammu, December 24, 2021 (PPI-OT):In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the India’s notorious National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a chargesheet against three Kashmiri youth in a fake case registered against them.

The probe agency in a statement said the NIA filed a chargesheet against the youth, Nadeem-ul-Haq, Nadeem Ayub and Talib-ur-Rehman under various sections of Indian Penal Code and Explosive Substances Act before its own Special Court, Jammu. The NIA implicated the three innocent Kashmiris in a false case, claiming the recovery of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at Bhatindi in Jammu.

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Jammu, December 24, 2021 (PPI-OT):In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President, Mehbooba Mufti has said that peace cannot be enforced but established by understanding the core problem and addressing the grievances of the people.

Addressing villagers in RS Pura area of Jammu region, she said, reconciliation and dialogue is the only way to establish lasting peace. She asserted that theatrics of peace being played by the Narendra Modi led Indian Government in Jammu and Kashmir was proving counterproductive. She said that the authorities after hurting dignity and special identity of IIOJK were now eyeing on land and properties of people.

“The arm twisting measures with heavy military presence on the ground, denying fundamental rights to people and enforcing a political ideology is what is being done in the name of ensuring peace in Jammu and Kashmir”, she said. “You cannot shut the mouth of a patient in pain and declare him stable. Measures of coercion can buy you some time but will not bring peace,” she added.

The PDP President said that like villagers around Gharana wetland, farmers across IIOJK were being forced out of their properties. “Agriculture and horticulture has always been the backbone of J and K’s economy and it was this sector which enabled the people of Kashmir to survive despite turbulence and unrest,” she said, adding that now the Indian government seems to be eyeing these sectors to further weaken the already struggling economy.

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New Delhi, December 24, 2021 (PPI-OT):The News of Hindutva hate mongers’ calling for genocide of Muslims has sparked massive outrage with prominent voices, including that of two former service chiefs, expressing anger over lack of police action in the matter. The concerned citizens also questioned the silence of Opposition parties and mainstream media on the issue even as activists Saket Gokhale who recently joined Trinamool Congress wrote a letter to Haridwar Police demanding FIR against those who made the incendiary speeches.

A series of incendiary video clips had surfaced on social media showing prominent Hindutva figures, including serial offender Yati Narsighanad Saraswati, calling on Hindus to kill members of minority communities at mass level and attack their places of worship at a three-day (December 17-19) event billed as ‘Dharma Sansad’ or ‘Religious Parliament’ in Haridwar, Uttarakhand.

Retired Admiral Arun Prakash, a former Chief of Naval Staff, expressed concern over the hate speeches lamenting the lack of action describing it as a clear threat to India’s national security. “With our jawans facing enemies on two fronts, do we want a communal bloodbath, domestic turmoil and international disgrace,” he asked in a tweet.

In response to Prakash’s tweet, Gen. Ved Prakash Malik, who was Army chief during the Kargil war, wrote that such speeches harm the national security and called for action. Gen. Malik demanded action from the civil administration against the hate mongers. Activist Gokhale of TMC said if the police do not take action, he would file a petition against them with a judicial magistrate.

Social media users demanded immediate action in the case under the hashtag “Haridwar hate assembly” trending on Twitter on Thursday. Congress spokesperson Shama Mohammad, while seeking action against the hateful event, drew a comparison between the hounding of comedian Munawar Faruqui who faced jail for the offence he did not commit and the Hindutva offenders who are allowed to roam free in the society despite instigating violence against an entire community.

Journalist Saba Naqvi sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the case. Activist Kannan Gopinathan, who resigned from public services over abrogation of Article 370, said mere stating “we don’t support genocidal calls is not sufficient enough response from the majority community” as he pointed out that electing a state that was unwilling to stop it encouraged such calls for mass violence against minorities.

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New Delhi, December 24, 2021 (PPI-OT):In the Indian state of Jharkhand, a mob severely beat up a Muslim youth after hanging him upside down from a tree. Though the news of the assault came to light on Wednesday with the videos surfacing on social media, the police said the incident had taken place last week in Karma village in Lesliganj Police limits in Palamu district of the state.

Speaking to media over phone, Gautam Kumar, sub-inspector at the Lesliganj police station, said, as soon as the video came to our notice yesterday (Wednesday), he visited the victim’s home and brought him to the police station to record his written complaint and we registered an FIR in the matter under various sections of Indian penal Code including attempt to murder.

The police have launched a manhunt to nab the culprits some of whom have been identified and are likely to be arrested soon, Kumar added. The victim, Khustar Ansari, is a resident of Jhapar village. “He is in better condition now. The injuries were though minor, we took him to the hospital for check-up as he had not visited the doctor after the assault,” the officer further said.

This is the first case of mob violence that has caught media attention after the state passed legislation on Tuesday that envisages stringent punishments for mob violence including death. Jharkhand, thus becomes the fourth state in India, after West Bengal, Rajasthan and Manipur, to come up with a law against lynching which are on the rise since the Modi government assumed power in 2014 as Hindutva goons have been emboldened to go after ordinary people from the minority communities over petty reasons.

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Srinagar, December 24, 2021 (PPI-OT):In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Indian troops in their fresh act of state terrorism martyred one Kashmiri youth in Islamabad district, today. The youth was martyred by the troops during a cordon and search operation in Arwani area of the district.

Indian troops, along with police and paramilitary personnel during the cordon and search operation blocked all entry and exit points of Arwani. The occupation authorities also suspended the internet and mobile services in the area. The operation was going on till last reports came in.

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Geneva, December 24, 2021 (PPI-OT):The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has said that Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez’s recent arrest is a “new incident of retaliation for his legitimate activities as a human rights defender” and called on the Indian authorities for his immediate release in the “context of previous reprisals”.

The statement, issued on December 22, was signed by a number of UN human rights experts. India’s National Investigative Agency (NIA) arrested Parvez on November 22 this year after extensive raids were carried out at his residence as well as his office in Srinagar. He was booked under various provisions of the black law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

“Parvez has worked extensively to document serious human rights violations, including enforced disappearances and unlawful killings, in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. In his search for accountability, Mr. Parvez has been victim of a number of incidents of reprisals reportedly for sharing this information with the United Nations, as documented in various reports of the Secretary-General and communications from UN special procedures mandate holders,” the OHCHR statement read.

The experts regretted that the Indian government continues to use the UAPA as a means of coercion to restrict the fundamental freedoms of civil society, the media and human rights defenders in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir as well as in the rest of the country. We therefore once again urge the government to bring this legislation in line with India’s international legal obligations under human rights law, they added.

Parvez was charged under IPC Sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging war against the government of India) and 121 A (punishment for conspiracy to wage war against the government of India) as well as Sections 17 (raising funds for terror activities), 18 (punishment for conspiracy), 18 B (recruiting any person or persons for commission of a terrorist act), 38 (offence relating to membership of a terrorist organisation) and 40 (offence of raising fund for a terrorist organisation) of the UAPA, according to Khurram’s arrest memo.

Following his arrest, the OHCHR had made its reservations known, with the Office’s official spokesperson Rupert Colville saying that there was a “deep concern” over the arrest as well as India’s frequent use of the “vague” UAPA. UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders Mary Lawlor had taken to twitter to express her concern.

In the current statement, the OHCHR notes that the Rohini jail complex, where Parvez is currently being held, is among the three most crowded and unsanitary prisons in the India and that, as a consequence, Parvez faces a risk to his health and safety “particularly from COVID-19”.

The OHCHR also said, as it has earlier as well, that the 2019 amendment to the UAPA has led to an expansion of state agencies’ discretionary powers under the law and “has resulted in a worrisome rise in the number of arrests across India, especially in Kashmir.”

In this context, the statement quoted the human rights experts as saying, “We therefore once again urge the Government to bring this legislation in line with India’s international legal obligations under human rights law.”

The statement was signed by Luciano Hazan (Chair-Rapporteur), Aua Balde (Vice-Chair), Tae-Ung Baik, Gabriella Citroni, Henrikas Mickevicius, Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Fionnuala Ni Aolain, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while counter-terrorism; and Morris Tidball-Binz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

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Srinagar, December 24, 2021 (PPI-OT):In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has hailed the British parliamentarians for expressing alarm over the human rights violations including fake encounters by Indian troops in the territory.

As many as 28 members of UK Parliament have written a joint letter to the Indian High Commission in London, seeking its response to reports of flagrant abuses of human rights in the occupied territory. They called for a transparent, credible and independent investigation into the human rights violation cases in IIOJK, pointing to Hyderpora and Amshipora fake encounters in which four and three Kashmiri civilians were martyred by Indian troops in November 2021 and July 2020 respectively.

The lawmakers also expressed shock at the incarceration of prominent rights activist Khurram Parvez by Indian troops and sought an explanation for his detention. The APHC spokesman in a statement issued in Srinagar urged the British government to impress upon India to stop genocide, extrajudicial killings, illegal detentions and widespread human rights abuses in the occupied territory.

He said, the British government has a moral obligation to intervene in the Kashmir dispute, keeping in view the political legacy it had in India at the time of historical division of Indian sub-continent wherein Kashmir remained a disputed territory due to brazen violation by India of the Indian Independence Act of 1947, endorsed by the British Kingdom.

The spokesman expressed hope that the British parliament, in the light of the reporting of the human rights abuses in IIOJK by a group of parliamentarians shall approach the European Union and the members of the United Nations to take appropriate measures to ensure the right to self-determination, civil liberties, right to live, freedom of expression and all other fundamental rights, including social, religious and political rights.

Denouncing the frequent cordon and search operations conducted by Indian troops in IIOJK, the APHC spokesman said the Indian forces have let loose a reign of terror and the people feel insecure about their lives, honour and dignity. In absence of rule of law, people are arrested from the roadsides, homes or markets, then taken to public places and killed before the people.

The spokesman appealed to the United Nations Human Rights Council to send its team to IIOJK to take first-hand account of the genocide and human rights abuses perpetrated by Indian forces in the territory and put pressure on India to stop genocide of the people of Kashmir, demanding their inalienable right to self-determination, guaranteed by the United Nations.

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Islamabad, December 24, 2021 (PPI-OT):Russell Tribunal on Kashmir has brought to light the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by India in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. A report released by Kashmir Media Service, today, said Russell Tribunal on Kashmir recently held in Sarajevo, Bosnia, highlighted the Indian atrocities in IIOJK. The experts at the three-day Russell Tribunal on Kashmir deplored that Israeli model settler colonialism was being repeated in IIOJK, the report added.

The Russell Tribunal judges said, situation in IIOJK is a matter of serious concern for the whole humanity and the Kashmir dispute must be seen in the context of genocide, settler colonialism. They urged the UN to properly oversee the decolonialization process in Kashmir.

The report lamented that India had waged a military, political, economic, social, cultural and moral war against the Kashmiris and was using genocide, rape, unlawful detentions, mass blinding and other crimes as weapons of war in the occupied territory.

It said, Hindutva-inspired Indian settler-colonial actions in IIOJK have repeatedly breached international law on numerous accounts, adding that Russell Tribunal on Kashmir has exposed the true face of the world’s so-called largest democracy and the UN must implement recommendations of the Russell Tribunal on Kashmir.

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