Pakistan condemns killing of teenager in Indian-occupied Kashmir
July 02, 2021
- Bashir, 17, was reportedly tortured before being killed.
- FO says India cannot suppress Kashmiris by killing them.
- So far in 2021, India has killed 57 innocent Kashmiris.
Pakistan on Friday strongly condemned the extra-judicial killing of a 17-year-old innocent Kashmiri Zakir Bashir by the occupation forces in the Kulgam district of the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK).
The Foreign Office, in a statement, said the extra-judicial killings, torture in custody, enforced disappearances, and incarcerations have become a norm in IOJK to suppress the Kashmiris.
Indian police on Wednesday had said the forces had gunned down three suspected militants during an exchange of fire, AP reported, after which the occupying forces had recovered a rifle and two pistols.
Following the development, the family members Bashir had said that the forces had taken him into custody after picking him up from home. They then killed him in custody and presented him as a militant who died during a gun battle.
"Reportedly, the teenage cricketer was brutally tortured by the Indian occupation forces before being shot dead," the Foreign Office said in the statement.
During this year alone, the Indian occupation forces have extra-judicially killed 57 innocent Kashmiris; arbitrarily detained and arrested 350 Kashmiris; and destroyed 58 houses of the Kashmiri people, the Foreign Office noted.
"India’s gross and systematic human rights violations in IOJK warrant investigation by the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI), as recommended by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in its reports of 2018 and 2019," it said.
The Foreign Office reminded that India must realise that no amount of brutalisation could subjugate the Kashmiris nor break their will in their struggle for the right to self-determination.
"We urge the international community to fulfil its obligation of protecting defenceless Kashmiris against the egregious human rights violations in IOJK and hold India accountable for its serious crimes against humanity," the Foreign Office added.
