The occupied valley of Kashmir is witnessing a complete breakdown of economy due to imposition of military siege and internet clampdown by India in the territory since August 5, last year.
According to a survey conducted by Kashmir Media Service, the economy of the occupied territory suffered a loss to the tune of $2.1 billion since India illegally scrapped the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019 after unlawfully abrogating the Article 370 of its constitution.
The survey says that post August 5, 2019 moves by India have proved economic nightmare for the Kashmiri people. The restrictions imposed in the guise of COVID-19 lockdown also incurred a loss of 124.16 billion [Indian] rupees in the occupied territory. The survey pointed out that over 496,000 Kashmiris lost job as India was engaged in systematic destruction of the Kashmiris’ economy.
In occupied Kashmir, Tehreek-e-Wahdat-e-Islami has expressed concern over the brutal actions being taken by India’s fascist government of Narendra Modi against Kashmiri Muslims in the territory.
A spokesperson for Tehreek-e-Wahdat-e-Islami in a statement issued in Srinagar criticized the Indian authorities for coming up with a so-called new construction policy after amending the Building Operations Act 1988 and the Jammu and Kashmir Development Act 1970.
The new construction policy, the TWI said, is aimed at the grabbing of Kashmiris’ land and to use it for military purposes by the Indian army. The spokesman said that the occupation authorities have already implemented a new domicile law under which more than 30,000 non-Kashmiris have been granted domicile certificates over the past two and a half months.
He said that all these steps of the Indian authorities were part of a grand conspiracy whose sole purpose is to turn the Muslim majority Jammu and Kashmir into a Hindu majority territory.
The spokesman said that there were also reports that more than 30,000 Hindu fanatics associated with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Singh, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and other Hindu extremist organizations had been brought to the occupied territory and stationed in Indian military bases and camps to carry out the massacre of the Kashmiri Muslims.
He emphasized that that the goons of these Hindu extremist organizations had already massacred nearly 300,000 Muslims in the Jammu region in 1947 and now such brutal game was being planned for the Muslims of the Kashmir valley which is a matter of great concern.
The Tehreek-e-Wahdat-e-Islami appealed to the United Nations and the international community to take immediate notice of the threat posed by the fascist Indian government of Bharatiya Janata Party to the existence and identity of Kashmiri Muslims.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood and Planning Minister Asad Umar met on Tuesday and held in-depth consultations on highlighting the ongoing worst human rights violations in Kashmir. The ministers discussed importance of drawing the world’s attention towards the curfew imposed in IOJK since last August 5 – the day India revoked special status of Kashmir. They also exchanged views on the current situation of coronavirus in the country.
Foreign Minister Qureshi said despite limited resources, the government took effective measures to curb the spread of the pandemic. He mentioned that smart lockdown policy of Prime Minister Imran Khan was being acknowledged the world over.
The foreign minister stressed ensuring implementation of safety guidelines during the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha to better cope with the challenge of coronavirus. They also discussed overall political situation in the country.
