Incarcerated senior leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference Shabbir Ahmad Shah has expressed serious concern over the rising incidents of Indian state terrorism in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Shabbir Ahmad Shah in a statement issued from Tihar jail said that killing innocent youth during the so- called cordon and search operations and fake encounters has become a routine for the Indian troops in Kashmir. The Modi regime has turned IIOJK into a killing field, he added. Terming the killing of innocent Kashmiri youth as the worst kind of state terrorism, he said that the policy of oppression and suppression could never suppress the freedom sentiment of the Kashmiri people.

“The supreme sacrifices rendered by the Kashmiri martyrs will never go in vain”, he said, adding the day is not far when Kashmir will be freed from the shackles of Indian bondage. Referring to the Indian army officer’s threatening statement, Shabbir Shah said that it was unfortunate that the Indian military and political establishment had failed to learn from history. “The history of the subcontinent stands witness to the fact that aggression and antagonism and even the wars India and Pakistan have fought over Kashmir since 1947 failed to bring the much-needed peace in the region”, he said, adding that India must take a leaf out of the 75-year long illegal occupation of Kashmir. Stressing the need for resolution of the lingering Kashmir dispute, said, “Peace in the region is inescapably linked to settlement of the Kashmir dispute in line with the United Nations resolutions.”

He said that the Indian government must accept the ground reality that durable peace could not be achieved if the core issue of Kashmir was sidelined. Indian needs to realize that killing, maiming, blinding and murdering Kashmiris is not the solution to the Kashmir dispute, he added. Shabbir Shah said despite the deployment of over 900,000 troops in the territory, India has miserably failed to lessen the Kashmiris’ resolve and their urge for freedom from Indian subjugation. He reiterated that the Kashmir dispute should be resolved through the implementation of the United Nations resolutions or talks among all the stakeholders of the dispute. He deplored that IIOJK was the only territory in the world where people were being disappeared after arrest and during the past 75 years over 0.5 million people were killed and properties worth billions of rupees destroyed by Indian forces.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP