ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has strongly condemned the extra-judicial killing of another four people in occupied Kashmir by the Indian troops.
Since the rise to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan in August, a deadly wave of attacks in the disputed Himalayan region claimed the lives of 39 people in October alone, including several Indian soldiers and freedom fighters.
After the attacks continued into November with the shootings of a local Muslim shop staffer, New Delhi deployed an additional 5,500 troops into the picturesque valley.
In the latest episode of staged encounters, four people, including an overground worker and a civilian, were killed in Hyderpora town of Srinagar on Monday evening, The Hindu reported, citing local police officials. All four were Muslims.
A statement from Foreign Office issued Tuesday observed that since October 1, at least 25 people have been killed in staged encounters and so-called cordon and search operations.
Extra-judicial killings, illegal detentions, daily harassments, and restrictions on fundamental freedoms, continue to be the norm in the region, it said.
“India must understand that no amount of systematic brutalities, rampant use of force and brutal clamp-downs can suppress the indigenous Kashmiri struggle. Kashmiris remain resolute in their just cause in the face of repulsive Indian state-terrorism.”
Pakistan has also shared with the global community a comprehensive dossier containing irrefutable evidence of Indian human rights violations and war crimes in occupied Kashmir.
The Foreign Office said Pakistan calls on the international community to hold India accountable for its gross and systematic violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Kashmir.
“The Indian government must allow international human rights and humanitarian organisations and UN Special Mandate Holders unhindered access to IIOJK to conduct independent investigations and allow the people of the occupied territory to exercise their right of self-determination as enshrined in the UN Security Council resolutions,” it said.
