Rains, snowfall add to miseries of people in occupied Kashmir

Srinagar, December 14, 2019 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, the increase in chill after fresh rains and snowfall has added to the miseries of the people of Kashmir Valley who have been already suffering immensely due to strict military siege since 5th August.

According to Kashmir Media Service, the residents of the Valley have more difficult days to face as they could not stock essential commodities for the harsh winter. Usually, the people used to store edibles and firewood before the onset of the winter season as part of the age-old practice keeping in view the closure of Srinagar-Jammu Highway, the only surface link of the territory, during most of the season. However, this year, they could not do so owing to continued lockdown. The valley remained cut off from rest of the world on the third consecutive day, today, due to closure of the highway.

The ground situation in the Kashmir Valley and Muslim majority areas of Jammu and Ladakh regions remained grim on 132nd consecutive day, today, because of the restrictions and suspension of internet services. The President of Doctors Association Kashmir, Dr Suhail Naik, in a statement in Srinagar, demanded restoration of the internet service to hospitals on urgent basis.

An officer of an Indian intelligence agency hurled life threats to the elderly parents of a Kashmiri student of New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University from Kulgam, Aejaz Ahmed Rathar. A PhD scholar of history, Aejaz told media that an intelligence officer in plainclothes grilled his parents and told them that a bullet doesn’t ask for an address, leaving them deeply upset. Aijaz has appeared on TV debates on the removal of the Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.

The Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Pir Panjal Freedom Movement, Qazi Irshad, addressing a party meeting in Jammu said that the illegal and unilateral actions of Indian government would not change the disputed status of Kashmir. The Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Freedom League, Muhammad Farooq Rehmani, in a statement issued in Islamabad paid glowing tributes to noted mujahid commander, Abdul Khaliq Ganai alias Jamal Afghani, on the eve of his 26th martyrdom anniversary.

The President of Genocide Watch, Dr Gregory Stanton, at a US Congressional Briefing in Washington said, persecution of Muslims in Assam and Kashmir is the stage just before genocide and the next stage is extermination that is called genocide. The Congressional Briefing was held by three US-based civil society organizations, the Indian American Muslim Council, Emgage Action, and Hindus for Human Rights. Dr Angana Chatterji, a scholar with University of California, Berkeley, who also participated in the Briefing via video link, slammed the crackdown in occupied Kashmir since Modi government revoked special status of Kashmir on 5th August. Raqib Hameed Naik, a journalist from occupied Kashmir, said that the ongoing lockdown in the occupied territory was one of the worst sieges in the last decade.

For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Phone: +92-51-4435548, +92-51-4435549
Fax: +92-51-4861736
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Website: www.kmsnews.org