Pakistan rejects India’s efforts to portray 'normalcy' in IoK

Pakistan rejects India’s efforts to portray 'normalcy' in IoK


Islamabad (Agencies): Pakistan has categorically rejected Indian government's attempts to "portray normalcy in India-occupied Jammu and Kashmir".

According to a press release issued by the Foreign Office on Sunday, the Foreign Office stated that Indian Occupied Kashmir continues to be the largest prison in the world with the heaviest deployment of Indian occupation forces since the coercive, unilateral and illegal Indian actions of fifth of the last month.

It said the act is aimed at altering the internationally recognized disputed status of the Occupied Kashmir and changing its demographic structure to preempt the results of a UN plebiscite. Despite Indian claims, curfew continues, it added.

The Foreign Office said Kashmiri leaders, especially Hurriyat leadership remain under house arrest and imprisoned. It said International media and credible human rights organizations continue to highlight the humanitarian nightmare, including arbitrary arrests of innocent Kashmiris, kidnapping of hundreds of young boys by Indian occupation forces to coerce their parents into submission. Communication blockade like suspension of landlines, mobile phones and internet services, restrictions and curbs on freedom of media is also continuing in the valley to strangulate people's voice. Shops remain closed, Kashmiris are unable to offer Friday prayers in mosques and there are credible reports of shortage of food items, including baby food and essential medicines.

The statement said that contrary to Indian claims, use of pellet guns continues in a brutal assault by Indian occupation forces against innocent Kashmiris.

India has failed to justify why Kashmiris are unable to get in touch with their loved ones through the iron curtain forced by India on the Occupied Kashmir. And inhumanly cutting off more than eight million Kashmiris from the rest of the world, since fifth of the last months, prompting the international community and international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International to question Indian assertions of “normalcy” , including the denial of permission to the Indian opposition leaders themselves to visit the Held Kashmir.

The Foreign Office said that New Delhi regime is exerting a completely authoritarian and dictatorial control over all information coming out of the Indian Occupied Kashmir. It said Indian authorities are distorting truth and twisting facts in a desperate attempt to promote their own narrative, which is in total contrast to the ground realities, as consistently corroborated by reports in the international media.

It said India attempted to pass off a false and fabricated story, including during an Indian army presser on Wednesday last blaming deaths of some Kashmiris in the Occupied Kashmir on “Pakistani militants.” The Indian National Security Advisor has also been trying to justify increasingly frequent reports of Kashmiri casualties by blaming them unsuccessfully on Pakistan.

The Foreign Office said Pakistan has consistently sensitized the international community about the danger of a false flag operation by India to shift attention and apportion blame to Pakistan for its indefensible actions in the Occupied Kashmir.

It said instead of indulging in fabricated stories, India should comply with international obligations and immediately cease its atrocities against innocent Kashmiris, lift the communication blockade, allow international fact finding missions and international media to visit the Occupied Kashmir to distinguish facts from fiction.