Pakistan on Tuesday denounced the Indian authorities’ decision to declare the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Freedom League and four factions of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples League as “unlawful associations”.
Islamabad: Pakistan condemns fresh round of curbs on Kashmiri political parties. It also denounced the decision to extend the ban on Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (Mohd Yasin Malik faction) for five more years, the Foreign Office spokesperson said in a press statement.
India’s ongoing campaign to crush dissent in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) contravened the international human rights and humanitarian law as well as democratic norms, the spokesperson further said.
“The Government of India is urged to lift the curbs on the banned Kashmiri parties; release all the political prisoners, including Yasin Malik; and implement the UN Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir,” it was reiterated.
With the fresh notifications, a total of 14 Kashmiri political parties have become outlawed in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). The affiliates of these parties are also facing persecution. Most notably, a death penalty has been sought for Yasin Malik, who was awarded life sentence in 2022.
“However, such oppressive tactics cannot suppress the Kashmiri people’s aspirations for realization of their inalienable right to self-determination, as enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions,” it was stressed.
Read More: Speaker AJ&K Assembly expressed concern over the enactment of a law by India
On 5 August 2019, the Government of India revoked the special status, or autonomy, granted under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir—a region administered by India as a state which consists of the larger part of Kashmir which has been the subject of dispute among India, Pakistan, and China since 1947.
Among the Indian government actions accompanying the revocation was the cutting off of communication lines in the Kashmir Valley which was restored after 5 months. Thousands of additional security forces were deployed to curb any uprising. Several leading Kashmiri politicians were taken into custody, including the former chief minister. Government officials described these restrictions as designed for preempting violence, and justified the revocation for enabling people of the state to access government programmes such as reservation, right to education and right to information.
The reactions in Kashmir Valley was effectively suppressed through the suspension of communication and with imposition of Curfew (Section 144). Many nationalists celebrated, declaring the move to herald public order and prosperity in Kashmir. Among political parties in India, the revocation was supported by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, and, among others, by the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Aam Aadmi Party, AIADMK, Telugu Desam Party, YSR Congress Party, BJD, Janata Dal (United) and the Shiv Sena. It was opposed by the Indian National Congress, Jammu & Kashmir National Conference, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Trinamool Congress and the DMK. In Ladakh, people in the Kargil area, who are predominantly Shia Muslim, protested;[10][11] however, the Buddhist community in Ladakh supported the decision.
The President of India issued an order under the power of Article 370, overriding the prevailing 1954 Presidential Order and nullifying all the provisions of autonomy granted to the state. The Home Minister introduced a Reorganisation Bill in the Indian Parliament, seeking to divide the state into two union territories to be governed by a lieutenant governor and a unicameral legislature. The resolution seeking the revocation of the temporary special status under Article 370 and the bill for the state’s reorganisation was debated and passed by the Rajya Sabha – India’s upper house of parliament – on 5 August 2019. On 6 August, the Lok Sabha – India’s lower house of parliament – debated and passed the reorganisation bill along with the resolution recommending the revocation.
