ISLAMABAD: Pakistan strongly condemned the continuing violence against Kashmiris in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and urged New Delhi to immediately halt its state-sponsored terrorism in the occupied valley, hold its occupation forces accountable for the horrific violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.

“Pakistan is extremely concerned over the rapidly deteriorating security and human rights situation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK),” Foreign Office said in a statement, adding that the Indian occupation forces’ continuing violence against innocent Kashmiris, including the reported incident in which a Kashmiri youth was brutally shot in Shopian, is highly reprehensible. It added that in the face of India’s repulsive state-terrorism, unabated repression, and widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the IIOJK, the Kashmiri people remain resolute in their just struggle for self-determination. “India must understand that no amount of brutality, clamp-downs or use of force can suppress the indigenous Kashmiri struggle,” it added.

Through the statement, Pakistan also called on India to immediately halt its state-sponsored terrorism in the IIOJK, hold its occupation forces accountable for the horrific violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, allow international human rights organisations and UN Special Mandate Holders to hold independent investigations in the IIOJK, lift the inhuman military siege, and allow the people of Kashmir to exercise their right of self-determination in line with the UNSC resolutions.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021