SRINAGAR, Dec 11 (TNS): people of occupied Kashmir observed International Human Rights Day, on Sunday, with shutdown and protest demonstrations to draw the attention of the world community towards the grave human rights situation in the held state and impress upon the world community to play its obligatory role in resolving the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions.
All shops and other commercial establishments were closed while transport was off the roads due to the shutdown and blackout against the gross human rights violations by Indian troops in occupied Kashmir. Call for the strike was given by the joint resistance leadership comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik. The puppet administration had deployed troops in strength particularly in Srinagar to foil a march from Lal Chowk to UN Office at Sonwar.
Police arrested, Muhammad Yasin Malik along with dozens of activists in Maisuma when he tried to lead the march towards the UN office. He was lodged in Kothi Bagh police station. The arrests triggered protests in the area, as men, women and children came out of their houses and raised pro-freedom and anti-India slogans. Police also arrested Hurriyat leaders Mukhtar Ahmad Waza and Muhammad Yousuf Naqash, while Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Ashraf Sehari remained under house arrest.
The victims of human rights abuses held a sit-in protest at Pratap Park in Srinagar to inform the world about their miseries. The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons in a statement demanded the initiation of a process of justice mechanism for the victims of enforced disappearance in Kashmir.
Speakers at a seminar organized by the APHC-AJK chapter in Islamabad criticized the silence of the international community over the human rights violations in occupied Kashmir.
