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Brussels, October 30, 2019 (PPI-OT): The Chairman of Kashmir Council Europe (KCEU), Ali Raza Syed, has said that by inviting a selected group of members of European lawmakers to occupied Kashmir, Indian authorities tried to mislead the world about the worse situation of the territory.
Ali Raza Syed in a statement issued in Brussels said that India’s action for facilitating this visit to occupied Kashmir, which is even banned for its own members of parliament and civil society, is a trick to show to the world that all is well in the territory.
He said that India had created an environment of fear in occupied Kashmir as the curfew confined the people to their homes and economy of the valley had been destroyed and future of youth specially students had been put at stake. Even people are also facing shortage of food and life-saving medicines, he added.
The KCEU Chairman said, “We have already written to the higher European authorities including President European Council and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy regarding the grave situation in Jammu and Kashmir asking them to impress upon India to end curfew and restore the basic rights of the people of Kashmir.”
It is a matter of serious concern that India has orchestrated the trip of MEPs to occupied Kashmir in order to create a fake sense of normalcy in the territory where factually nothing is normal, he pointed out. The fact is that the occupied Kashmir became a large prison where thousands of Kashmiri politicians, journalists, members of civil society, human rights defenders and youth have been arrested, even common people are detained at their homes due to constant curfew and they face blockade of communications while journalists and human rights workers, members of civil societies from other parts of the world are denied access to Kashmir, he added.
On the other hand, the KCEU has pledged its support to an Sikh community’s upcoming convention and a protest demonstration in Geneva against the genocide of Sikh in Indian Punjab. The convention and protest march titled, “Sikhs for Justice” will be arranged by the Sikh diaspora in Geneva, the capital of Switzerland, on Friday (1st November).
In a meeting with Sikh community leaders from Belgium, UK, France and US at the KCEU Secretariat in Brussels, Ali Raza Syed said that the council always supported oppressed people and raised voices against the aggressors. “Kashmiris and Sikhs both are suffering from the Indian brutal oppressions and they are facing similar miseries created by the Indian government,” he said.
Focus of the upcoming convention in Geneva would be a proposed unofficial referendum among the global Sikh community in the year 2020 on the issue of Sikhs’ right to self-determination. During the non-binding referendum, which might be held in November 2020, the Sikhs based in different parts of the globe will be asked to vote for the purpose.
During the meeting, which was attended by senior office bearers of KCEU and other important figures of both sides, Sikh leaders also assured leaderships of the KCEU of their continual support to the oppressed people of occupied Kashmir engaged in a just struggle for their right to self-determination.
Both sides also condemned the continued siege of occupied Kashmir valley for the past almost three months. They asked the international community to put pressure on the Indian authorities to end lockdown in the occupied territory and allow the Kashmiri people decide their fate by themselves.
For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
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Email: info@kmsnews.org
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