Indian forces have killed 14 Kashmiri protestors demanding freedom from New Delhi’s repressive rule, reports said prompting an outcry in neighboring Pakistan and calls for realization of Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the killing of innocent civilians in Pulwama area in Indian-administered Kashmir, urging India to allow Kashmiris to decide their future.
Khan says only dialogue, not violence and killings, would resolve this decades-old conflict.
“We will raise the issue of India’s human rights violations in IOK and demand UNSC fulfill its Kashmir plebiscite commitment,” he said on Twitter.
Kashmiris must be allowed to decide their future. https://t.co/Y91PUVckh8
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) December 16, 2018
The prime minister said the Kashmiris must be allowed to decide their future.
Kashmir map Image Credit Wikimedia Commons
Since assuming office, Khan has been asking New Delhi to resume dialogue to resolve the Kashmir dispute.
Indian officials and media offered different accounts, putting death toll to just a few individuals, New Delhi calls as rebels.
Around 200 Kashmiris including children have also been injured in the ongoing repression in the disputed territory, which UN and major powers recognize as such.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Quresh has called upon the international community and global human rights organizations to immediately intervene and protect the innocent Kashmiris from the ongoing “killing spree” by the occupation forces in the held valley.
He said the escalation in Indian occupied Kashmir clearly manifested ‘a state-sponsored terrorism’ unleashed against the Kashmiris.
He also asked the human rights watchdogs to ”at least distinguish between an issue and the ruthless killing spree”.
Qureshi said that on Saturday some 14 Kashmiris were killed and 300 others were reportedly injured, many among them sustained critical injuries.
“It appears now the Indian forces are on the killing spree,” he said, adding they were not out to quell protestors and crowds by resorting to aerial firing but Saturday’s events showed their ‘aim to kill’.
The foreign minister said that he had also written letters to the secretary generals of United Nations (UN) and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), besides addressing the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) for bringing their attention to the grave human rights violations.
