Chairman Kashmir Committee, Shehryar Khan Afridi on Wednesday said people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) had foiled Indian propaganda about DDC (District Development Councils) elections 2020 as Delhi used ‘staged’ polls to legitimize its occupation valley.
“Kashmiris foil Indian propaganda about LG polls. As Delhi uses ‘staged’ polls to legitimise its occupation of valley, Kashmiris say ‘it’s all facade’,” he tweeted while commenting on a foreign media report. According to the Financial Times report, the New Delhi cast polls as per its move to tighten control in the Muslim-majority region. The Daily was the part of a small delegation of international media invited to visit IIOJK last weekend on a tightly controlled, government-organised trip to cover the election. Foreign journalists had been barred from reporting in the region.
Modi’s government last year stripped IIOJK of its special status as a state and placed it under New Delhi’s direct rule as a so-called “union territory”. On Monday, the night before results were to be counted, one of the biggest political groups in Kashmir, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said some of its senior leaders were detained. A local government official said about 40 politicians and activists were held by police on security grounds, the report added.
