The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) Saturday said civil and political liberties, human rights, and religious freedom in Jammu Kashmir had sharply declined since India abrgated Jammu Kashmir’s Special status on August 05, 2019.
When on August 5, 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu supremacist government revoked the Article 370 of the Indian constitution that gave the region its autonomous status, an already bad situation was made worse, the IAMC, an advocacy organization based in the United States said.
“Extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, prolonged detention, torture, internet bans, severe restrictions on freedom of movement and peaceful assembly, and other forms of persecution of Kashmir’s eight million Muslims have escalated over the last three years. The fears of the global civil rights community have come true,” IAMC president Syed Ali said, as per the statement.
He said that Kashmiri citizens have suffered unprecedented persecution due to the increased militaristic response to suppress their democratic aspirations since August 2019. “Scores of political rights activists and even politicians such as former chief ministers were jailed or put under house arrest. Every voice of dissent is gagged,” the IAMC statement read.
Ali also criticized India’s Supreme Court for failing to take up the many petitions before it that have challenged the rescinding of its autonomy.
Ali also demanded that the Indian government immediately free kashmiri journalists and activists including Fahad Shah, Aasif Sultan, Sajad Gul, and globally recognized human rights defender Khurram Parvez, who was arrested in November on false charges of terrorism, as well as hundreds of others who have not even been charged with any crime.