ISLAMABAD: Pakistan, on Tuesday, strongly condemned the arrest of human rights activist Khuram Parvez in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and urged the world community to hold India accountable for continued clamp down against human rights organisations and activists for undertaking their duty.

In a statement, Foreign Office said that the arbitrary arrests of human rights activists on orchestrated charges by Indian occupation forces is a clear evidence of New Delhi’s state-terrorism and trampling of fundamental human rights in the IIOJK.

It stated that the reprehensible unwarranted searches by Indian National Investigation Agency at the offices and residence of Khuram Parvez, have also been condemned by international human rights activists and organisations.

“The world is aware that it has become increasingly difficult for human rights organizations and activists to continue their work in India and IIOJK due to incessant witch hunt by the Hindutva driven RSS-BJP combine over unfounded and motivated allegations,” it stated, adding that the Amnesty International had to shut all its operations in India in September 2020 when its bank accounts were frozen by India in an act of reprisal because of their independent reporting on the IIOJK.

It added that the UN human rights machinery, independent NGOs and global media have regularly reported on and expressed concerns over increasing intimidation, harassment and reprisal attacks by Indian occupation forces against Kashmiri human rights defenders, journalists and civil society actors since 5th August 2019.

“We call on the international community to hold India accountable for continued clamp down against human rights organizations and activists for undertaking their duty to expose gross and systematic human rights violations of Kashmiris in the IIOJK, and the minorities, especially Muslims, in India,” it added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021