Pakistan’s Army chief says Indian atrocities cannot suppress Kashmiri struggle for self-determination

Pakistan’s Army Chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, on Monday condemned Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir.

“Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir can never suppress a just indigenous political struggle for self-determination,” the army chief was quoted as saying in a tweet by Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor. 

The army chief added that the brutalities of Indian Security Forces against innocent civilians in occupied Kashmir and ceasefire violations along the Line of Control and Working Boundary targeting civilians are highly condemnable.

General Bajwa’s statement comes as a complete shutdown marked by curfew and restrictions is being observed in occupied Kashmir against the killing of over a dozen youth by Indian troops on Sunday.

Thirteen youth were martyred in a siege and search operation and four in firing on protesters and funerals in Islamabad and Shopian districts of the occupied valley. Over 200 civilians were injured, many of them in critical condition.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has expressed deep shock and grief at the indiscriminate and vicious killing of Kashmiri youth.

The prime minister emphasised that Indian attempts to label the legitimate Kashmir struggle as terrorism cannot deter the valiant people of Jammu and Kashmir from their demand of exercising their right to self-determination in accordance with UN resolutions.

PM Abbasi called on the international community to urge India to allow access to fact-finding missions to occupied Jammu and Kashmir.