MT Desk: The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has said that the Indian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is systematically oppressing the people of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

According to Kashmir Media Service, APHC spokesperson Abdul Rashid Minhas in a statement issued in Srinagar said following the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A on August 5, 2019, the BJP-led government has taken illegal and brutal steps aimed at intimidating, suppressing, and silencing the political voice of the Kashmiri people.

He said the APHC is appealing to the people to remain united and continue their struggle for their rights, without being misled by the “so-called development,” peace statements,” and Hindutva slogans of the BJP regime.

The spokesman said residents of the Kashmir Valley have expressed serious concern over possible demographic changes, saying that New Delhi is settling outsiders in the territory. He added that the demographic composition of the Jammu region had already been altered.
The statement also said that the BJP was using the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir as a testing ground for its military and Hindutva policies, adding that the government had deprived Kashmiris of their political and economic rights in an attempt to suppress their sentiments.

The APHC urged the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, to intervene on an urgent basis to facilitate a just resolution of the Kashmir dispute, warning that failure to address the conflict could lead to serious consequences in South Asia, as the dispute involves three nuclear-armed states in the region.

It also called upon the UN Human Rights Council and other international human rights bodies to send fact-finding missions to assess the ground situation in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

It said that basic rights have been taken away from the people and added that ongoing cordon-and-search operations and house raids under draconian laws demonstrate rights violations by Indian forces.

The APHC demanded the immediate release of all Kashmiri detainees, including APHC Chairman Masarrat Aalam Butt, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Aasiya Andrabi, Fahmida Sufi, Pir Saifullah, Ayaz Akbar, Raja Merajuddin Kalwal, Mushtaq-ul-Islam, Dr Qasim Fakhtoo, Dr Shafi Shariati, Bilal Siddiqui, Molvi Bashir Irfani and human rights activist Khurram Parvez, along with others currently held in various prisons in India and IIOJK.