Kashmiri American Council Condemns Killings and Desecration of Holy Qur’an in Valley
Akron Ohio: The Kashmiri American Council (KAC) Board of Directors convened in an extraordinary session to discuss the recent events in the Kashmir Valley. The Board unanimously condemned the recent desecration of a mosque and the Holy Qur'an in Gool, assault on the Imam, and subsequent murder of six innocent, unarmed protesters. The Board mourned the loss of six more martyrs, and demanded the immediate prosecution of the occupational forces involved.
Describing the incident as yet the latest example of Indian occupational forces' human rights violations, the Board demanded the withdrawal of the guilty forces from the township, and an immediate independent inquiry into the incident. Decrying the oft-repeated call of the puppet government for an inquiry, the Board reminded the world community that there had yet to be a single finding from any of the alleged inquiries into the numerous prior such incidents, and echoed calls made by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for a cessation of any and all use of force against the unarmed Kashmiri citizens raising their voices against the brutal murders. The Board welcomed the statement of support from the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) condemning the senseless murders.
The KAC condemned the continued arbitrary arrests and detention of not only the leadership, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, M. Yasin Malik, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Shabir Ahmad Shah, but also of numerous youth now being detained for having committed the crime of raising their voices against the brutal murders. The Board called for the immediate release of all innocent youth, and the immediate halt to all such tactics.
The Board praised the courage demonstrated by the people of Kashmir, and that of Kashmir's civil society, in their continued willingness to raise their voices against continued Indian human rights violations.
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