ISLAMABAD, Feb 23: The Foreign Office on Tuesday said India was employing rape, torture, degrading treatment and killings of Kashmiri women as ‘instruments of state-terrorism’ in the occupied territory.
“These state sanctioned heinous crimes have further intensified since India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5th August 2019,” the Foreign Office statement said issued here.
The statement came in remembrance of the horrific incident of mass rape of Kashmiri women in Kunan and Poshpora villages of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) on 23 February, 1991.
“The fateful day continues to remain a scar on collective memory of the international community,” the statement added.
The Foreign Office said lack of accountability of perpetrators and absence of justice for victims continued to define India’s deliberate disregard for rule of law and human rights.
The incidents of systematic violence and mass rapes in IIOJK have been documented by a number of independent Commissions, human rights organizations, global media and civil society organizations, including the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), it stressed.
The Foreign Office emphasized that the day should serve as a solemn reminder to the international community of the need to address the systematic violence against women in IIOJK.
