The European Union should play its role in stopping human rights violations in occupied Kashmir without delay, Ali Raza Syed writes to European authorities

 Monday, December 16, 2024

Brussels (Point News Today / Pakistan Point News - APP - 16th December, 2024) Kashmir Council EU Chairman Ali Raza Syed has urged the top officials of the European Union to use their influence to stop human rights violations in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. According to Kashmir Media Service, Ali Raza Syed has written separate letters in this regard to the President of the European Council Antonio Costa and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallis, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Davis McAllister and the Chairman of the Human Rights Subcommittee of the European Parliament Monir Saturi.

Ali Raza Syed has appealed to the European authorities to put pressure on India to stop human rights violations in occupied Jammu and Kashmir and to unconditionally release all Kashmiris imprisoned in Indian jails.

The letter states that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a common standard for the realization of fundamental rights by all peoples and all nations of the world, but India, the world’s largest so-called democracy, continues to commit serious human rights violations in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

In occupied Kashmir, Indian soldiers are involved in extrajudicial killings, killing Kashmiri youth in fake encounters and not handing over their bodies to their families, and forcibly arresting unarmed citizens, political leaders, human rights activists and journalists on false charges. Journalists have been forcibly silenced in occupied Kashmir and many of them are imprisoned in jails under black laws.

Ali Raza Syed said that an Indian court has sentenced Kashmiri Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik to life imprisonment in a false case and he is serving a sentence of innocence. He said that Kashmiri scholar Dr. Qasim Fakto, who is also known as the Nelson Mandela of Kashmir, has also been imprisoned for 31 years. Prominent human rights activist Khurram Pervez, who was awarded the world’s highest award, the Martin Annals Award, in 2023, has also been illegally imprisoned for three years, while human rights activist Muhammad Ahsan Anto has also been imprisoned for more than two years.

Ali Raza Syed vowed that the Kashmir Council will continue to raise its voice in Europe against the ongoing human rights violations by India in occupied Kashmir until the Kashmiris achieve their inalienable right to self-determination and the release of Kashmiri political detainees. He clarified that a lasting and permanent peace in the region is not possible until the Kashmir dispute is resolved peacefully in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people.