ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday expressed solidarity with the victims in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, who have been brutally disabled by the use of pellet guns and torture inflicted by the Indian occupation forces.

In a message on the eve of International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the Foreign Office said that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the UN Special Procedure Mandate Holders, and the international media and civil society had condemned India for those atrocities being committed with full impunity in the IIOJK.

According to the OHCHR Kashmir Report 2019, "1,253 people have been blinded by the metal pellets used by security forces from mid-2016 to the end of 2018" in the IIOJK, it stated, adding that the number of people, including women and children, blinded and disabled by the pellet guns in the IIOJK had risen significantly since the publication of this report.

Amnesty International's report, titled, "Losing Sight in Kashmir: The Impact of Pellet-Firing Shotguns", has given a pictorial illustration of Kashmiris, mostly women and children, who have been blinded by the use of pellet guns in the IIOJK.

"The International Day of Persons with Disabilities being observed today should serve as a stark reminder for the international community to act resolutely for stopping India from further blinding and maiming of people in IIOJK and preventing the occupied territory from becoming a cruel source of disabilities in the world," the Foreign Office said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020