ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday asked the Indian government to immediately remove all restrictions in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK), withdraw occupation forces and abolish draconian laws there instead of entertaining further delusions about Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
While strongly rejecting Indian defence minister's "delusional remarks" through a video address to "Jammu Jan Samvad rally" about AJK and situation in IOJK, Foreign Office spokesperson said the statement was another manifestation of the BJP government's delusions about AJK and incurable obsession with Pakistan.
"Rather than entertain any further delusions about AJK, the Indian government must immediately remove all restrictions in IOJ&K, restore all means of communications including 4G internet, withdraw occupation forces from the region, remove draconian PSA, AFSPA and UAPA laws, and allow unfettered access to international observers and independent media to the occupied territory," the spokesperson remarked.
She said it had been clear to the people of IOJK, Pakistan and the international community that the motive behind the RSS-inspired BJP government's illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019 was to inter alia bring about demographic changes in the IOJK so that the Muslim majority in the region could be changed by "deceit, fraud and brute force."
She said the promulgation of new domicile law and amendments in various laws, especially regarding acquisition of properties in IOJK, clearly manifested the primary motivation of disempowerment and disenfranchisement of the Kashmiri people and further usurpation of their rights.
She said the BJP government had been seeking to force its decisions upon the IOJK people through the muzzle of the gun by deploying more than 900,000 security forces in the region; a lockdown that continues for over 10 months; arbitrary detentions of thousands including political activists, civil society members, and common men, women and even disabled and snapping all means of communications.
The India government was also forcing its decisions through imposing curfew-like strict measures restricting movement, assembly, peaceful political activities even religious congregations. Since August 2019, hundreds of innocent Kashmiris have been martyred in extrajudicial and custodial killings.
The spokesperson said the egregious human rights violations by the BJP government in IOJK and collective punishment of entire communities including destruction of homes and means of livelihood were well-documented by international human rights and humanitarian organisations.
"The Indian Defence Minister's statement is another desperate attempt to divert attention from India's state-terrorism and unacceptable human rights violations in IOJ&K. It is also designed to ramp up flailing support for the BJP through unabashed political opportunism and reckless disregard for the peace, stability and security of the region," she remarked.
The spokesperson said the assertion about "international recognition" of the BJP government's measures in IOJK could best be termed as "obdurate and wilful amnesia."
To assist the Indian Defence Minister's memory, she said the international opprobrium over the BJP government's human rights violations in IOJK has been unequivocal, including inter alia three UNSC consultations for the first time in about five decades, U.S. Congressional hearings, discussions in Parliaments around the world especially the EU, condemnation by international human rights and humanitarian organisations, scores of Parliamentarians, hundreds of editorials and op-eds in reputed international newspapers and magazines, and offers of mediation by different world leaders.