OCCUPIED SRINAGAR: The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has said that lasting peace in the region is not possible till settlement of the lingering Kashmir dispute as per the Kashmiris’ aspirations.

According to a Kashmir Media Service report on Sunday, the APHC spokesman, Advocate Abdul Rashid Minhas, in a statement issued in Srinagar said the Bharatiya Janata Party regime cannot hide the reality about occupied Jammu and Kashmir through its propaganda machinery during the Lok Sabha election process.

He said India is misleading world by propagating that peace is returning to IIOJK while the ground reality of Kashmir is that the BJP regime, with the help of Indian army, police and National Investigation Agency, has intensified its efforts to harass Kashmiris and colonize Kashmir since 5 August 2019 and create an atmosphere of fear and terror in the territory.

He said the Indian BJP government’s policies in IIOJK have put peace and stability of the entire South Asia at stake, adding the Kashmir dispute should be resolved as per the Kashmiris’ aspirations for peace in the region.

The APHC spokesman expressed serious concern over the continued illegal detention of Masarrat Aalam Butt, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Naeem Ahmed Khan, Aasiya Andrabi and others languishing in different jails of India and IIOJK.

He said not allowing Jumatul-Wida and Eid prayers at the historic Jamia mosque in Srinagar is condemnable and described it a grave violation of people’s fundamental right to practice their religion. The entire Kashmir Valley has been turned into a military garrison while siege and search operations and other brutalities by the Modi regime have made the lives of Kashmiris miserable, he lamented.