75th Anniversary of Indian Invasion in Kashmir: Kashmiri Activists Condemn India’s Occupation in Region
Washington, DC: The World Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKA) has issued the following statement on the 75th anniversary of India’s invasion of Kashmir:
“On the 75th anniversary of India’s invasion of Kashmir, Indian military occupation beginning in 1947 has produced an existential threat to Kashmiris with over 100,000 civilian deaths,10,000 missing, and civic, political and economic life critically suppressed. As Indian armed forces continue to imprison Kashmir’s political leaders, journalists, and human rights activists Kashmiris’ demand for self-determination keeps growing stronger.
We denounce India’s occupation of Kashmir and the various other violations it has inflicted upon Kashmiris, including illegal surveillance, imprisonment, online harassment, and permanent revocation of democratic and legal rights since August 5, 2019. For decades the people of Jammu and Kashmir have endured relentless violations of privacy and human rights at the hands of Indian occupation forces.
On this monumental day, Kashmir and its supporters reflect on the crisis that has defined hundreds of thousands of lives throughout the diaspora. We call on India to put an immediate end to undemocratic surveillance, human rights abuses, and occupation. We demand an immediate end to the accelerated targeted killings and imprisonment of over a thousand of innocent civilians in the last few days. It is imperative that the world powers stop the Indian forces from continuing to occupy Kashmir, and we ask the international community to demand accountability and justice – or witness another genocide that could’ve been stopped.”
