Kashmir’s Advocacy Organization Calls for Kashmir’s Right to Freedom of Expression
WASHINGTON, May 3 — A leading Kashmir advocates’ organization has called for international solidarity for human rights and freedom of expression of the people in the illegal Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and said there is no press freedom in the disputed area.
“The Indian government is using internet interruptions, police attacks and traumatic intimidation tactics on activists, journalists and civilians to destroy conflict and protect its brutal military occupation and demographic engineering,” the Washington-based World Kashmir Awareness Forum said in a statement. statement indicating World Press. Freedom Day, observed on Monday.
“At the same time,” Tit said, “the regime’s followers are using virulent online harassment to study and discredit those who speak Kashmir from abroad.”
The Forum denounced their actions, saying the extrajudicial killings, torture, disappearance, displacement and sexual violence endured by Kashmiris should be brought to light and accounted for.
“Access to widespread, reliable information is a matter of life or death for more than 13 million Kashmiris, and is essential in the fight for a just solution.”
Noted that UNESCO launched World Press Freedom Day in 1991, recognizing that “a free, pluralistic and independent press is an essential component of any democratic society.”
“Thirty years later,” said the World Kashmir Awareness Forum, “it is unscrupulous for India to declare itself the largest democracy in the world if it aggressively censors and retaliates against the coverage of Kashmir.
“We, Kashmiris, urge the international community to unite in defense of our human rights and freedom of expression,” the forum said. “It will require the advocacy and courage of the international press and diplomatic commitment from the world’s leading democracies.”
