leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani has sought the intervention of the United Nations and the heads of several Western and Muslim countries in the wake of “a new wave of state terror unleashed by the Indian armed forces” in Jammu and Kashmir.
Geelani said he wrote the letter “on behalf of the oppressed and besieged people to draw the attention of the world community”, as curfew continued in the region for the ninth day following the death of dozens of protestors in retaliatory firing by government forces.
Geelani has said that “India continues to institutionally perpetrate violence in Jammu and Kashmir, and has ensured so far that no armed forces personnel involved in heinous war crimes to be prosecuted by its own judicial mechanism”.
“...therefore we urge the international community to pave way for an international inquiry led by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR),” the letter reads. “This inquiry is not unprecedented. Recently, the OHCHR instituted an inquiry into the crimes perpetrated by the Sri Lankan government.”
At least 41 people have been killed in the ongoing turmoil, mostly due to bullet injuries, and over 1,800 have been injured.
“Curfew and severe restrictions have been imposed, besieging the already imprisoned population further. Pro-freedom leadership has been either imprisoned or placed under house arrest. The killing spree continues and an enraged population is getting desperate,” the letter states.
He adds that “influential states”, such as the members of the UNSC, EU and OIC, have a “special responsibility” to challenge the behaviour of the Indian state to “stop this reign of terror”.
The letter has been sent to the United Nations Security Council; the heads of UNSC permanent members (US, UK, China, France and Russia), members of the European Union, the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC), the South Asian Association of Regional Countries (SAARC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); the Prime Ministers of Pakistan and Turkey; the King of Saudi Arabia; and the Presidents of China and Iran.
source : hawzahnews
