PIDE seminar on ‘iconic prisoners’: World urged to take note of India’s anti-humanity acts in IIOJK

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan, Thursday, urged the global community to take notice of the Indian government’s anti-humanity acts in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) especially violation of human rights of the political prisoners in Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing a seminar titled, “The Iconic Prisoners of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir” organised by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), Chairman Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Shehryar Khan Afridi asked the world community to take notice of the travesty of justice being committed by occupational forces in Jammu and Kashmir.

Afridi said Indian occupational regime in Jammu and Kashmir was committing crime against political prisoners, including Dr Qasim Faktoo, Syed Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Masarrat Alam Bhat, Dr Asiya Andrabi, Naheeda Nasreen, Fehmeeda Sofi, Yaseen Malick, and others.

He said India was bringing demographic change in the IOK, which was a war crime and India was blatantly committing it with impunity as the global community has never taken serious action against human rights violations by the Indian authorities in occupied region.

He said the academia could play a pivotal role for spreading awareness on the miserable conditions of the Kashmiri prisoners kept in jails in mainland India.

He said Indian occupational forces were committing war crimes against the people of the IIOJK but the world was keeping mum over Indian crimes against humanity.

He said that academia could add value to the national narrative on the Kashmir dispute.

He said India was distorting history by producing movies and erasing history of Kashmiri freedom struggle under its nefarious design to mislead the world and the younger generations. He said the Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir was working to preserve, promote, and protect the Kashmiri culture.

He said successful holding of the Kashmir Premier League (KPL) had proved to the world that in the IOK, tyranny and oppression was order of the day, while Azad Kashmir was a developing and thriving part of Kashmir.

He urged the youth to become bloggers and story tellers of Kashmir on the social media, which help break shackles of the Indian atrocities. While talking about the importance of the social media and its role in creating global awareness by bringing the facts of Indian atrocities against the people of Kashmir, he advised the Pakistani and Kashmiri youth to focus on educating the world through use of the social media in a bid to expose Indian atrocities against Kashmiris.

Speaking on the occasion, Ahmed bin Qasim, son of Dr Faktoo, the longest serving prisoner of the IOK, narrated the tales of Kashmiri prisoners, saying the Indians were erasing the names of Kashmiri prisoners from the record. Dr Mujahid Gilani, head of the Kashmir Youth Alliance, briefed the audience on the miserable conditions of Kashmiri prisoners in the IOK.

Khurram Dastagir said a Kashmiri NGO had recently published tales of Kashmiri prisoners which was even unimaginable. He said it was unprecedented in history to know that the Kashmiri prisoners faced worst torture but did not give their love for freedom. He said Pakistan needed to present Dr Faktoo as a fit case to shake the world conscience.

Prof Khuram Elahi shared few verses from poetry of Allama Iqbal on Kashmir and his vision about the Muslims of the Subcontinent. Dr Nadeemul Haq, vice chancellor of the PIDE, while presenting the vote of thanks, said the youth was disillusioned and distracted and economic revival could pave the way for revival of the national pride. A small video was also run on the occasion featuring Asiya Andrabi and Dr Faktoo and their son, Mohammad bin Qasim.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021