Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Shehryar Khan Afridi Wednesday said that Hindutva regime of India is implementing an evil plan of slow genocide in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and people are being killed, deprived of their jobs and businesses, their houses are being blown away and their jobs are overtaken by non-Kashmiri Hindus brought from mainland India under a vicious plan to change demography of Kashmir.
Addressing the participants of a seminar titled ‘Kashmir under the shadow of fear and fire held under the aegis of Institute of Regional Studies (IRS), Shehryar Afridi said that under its plan of slow genocide, twelve so-called gunfights took place in January 2022 where 27 youth were killed in IIOJK while the world didn’t notice.
“Modi regime is involved in changing demography of Jammu and Kashmir and under the new status quo, India is altering the demography of Jammu and Kashmir by changing the outlook of administration in Jammu and Kashmir. Modi regime is installing a Hindu fascist regime in Muslim-majority Kashmir led by right wing Hindu officers in civil and police administration of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
Shehryar Afridi said that Indian military is already a completely Hinduized force in the Muslim-majority occupied region while India is imposing a new status quo in IIOJK in complete violation of international law, United Nations resolutions despite the fact that Jammu and Kashmir it is an UN-designated disputed territory.
Shehryar Afridi said that this demographic change will fast track changes that India wants to install in IIOJK and also allow Hindus from India to occupy private spaces including industries, tourism, education and officialdom.
“Installing and settling Hindus is going on at a well-crafted pace and in next seven years, we will see a new face of IIOJK that is laden with settlers who are non-Muslim and radical Hindus,” he said and added that on every day basis, India is killing unarmed, innocent Kashmiris. “India has also criminalized media in Kashmir and that is why we see raids on journalists and media houses. Any story that comes out of Kashmir is a note against Indian occupation of IIOJK. Pakistan and Kashmiri diaspora must engage with Muslim world with cohesive planning and coordination,” he said.
“More people should be asked to file cases against Indian officials to unmask their war crimes. Kashmir centric policy should dictate relations particularly with Muslim world; India’s internal issues can wait. A concentrated media campaign must start,” he added. Shehryar Afridi said that the PTI government had added a new vigour to Pakistan’s narrative on Kashmir and all necessary measures would be taken to raise Kashmir dispute at the world forums.
He said that Indian occupational regime in Jammu and Kashmir is committing war crimes against the freedom loving people of Jammu and Kashmir but the silence of the world over Kashmir genocide is a question mark. He said that Kashmir Committee is adopting innovative ways to raise awareness on Kashmir. He said that for the first time, top-notch human rights organizations in the US had been given detailed briefings on the plight of Kashmiris. He said that there is a need to raise awareness about Kashmir dispute and aggressive lobbying is needed to be launched on Kashmir dispute.
