SIALKOT/ISLAMABAD/MUZAFFARABAD - Pakistan Sunday said it was deeply concerned over the increase in systematic human rights violations in the Indian Occupied Kashmir as Indian border forces resorted to unprovoked heavy shelling on Pakistani villages near Sialkot Working Boundary the same day.
Hundreds of people in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) burnt Indian flag and an effigy of its prime minister in protest against the Indian atrocities and a crackdown on freedom movement leaders in the Indian part of the divided region.
AJK Prime Minister Ch Abdul Majeed on Sunday also vehemently condemned the recent killing of two Kashmiri youths in Srinagar by the Indian occupying troops. Indian soldiers had gunned down two Kashmiri youth including a 16-year-old Kashmiri boy during an anti-India demonstration by Kashmiris in outskirt of Srinagar on Saturday, besides injuring dozens of others.
"We condemn the brutal use of force by Indian security forces against peaceful and unarmed protesters, resulting in the killing of two Kashmiri young men," said the Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam in a statement. She said the people and the government of Pakistan extended heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims.
The spokesperson said the arrest of APHC leaders on false charges was a matter of concern. Brutality and coercion had not and would not succeed in suppressing the aspiration and struggle of Kashmiris for their right to self-determination, promised to them by the UNSC resolutions, she added.
Tasnim Aslam said Pakistan had repeatedly stressed the need for peaceful resolution of the dispute through sustained and meaningful dialogue with India and in accordance with the wishes of Kashmiris. Pakistan, she said, would continue to extend political, diplomatic and moral support to Kashmiris.
As the tension grips the region, the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) once again resorted to heavy shelling on Pakistani border villages including Abiyal Dogar, Thakerpur and Chak Bheeka in Shakargarh Sector of Sialkot Working Boundary on Sunday, badly damaging several houses of the local villagers there.
Senior officials of the Chenab Rangers, the Indian BSF started unprovoked shelling in the evening around 5pm. The CR officials added that the Indian BSF targeted the civilian population. The shelling created panic and harassment among the local people and some mortar shells damaged houses of the villagers.
The Chenab Rangers retaliated instantly and effectively in befitting manner, making the Indian guns fall silent, the officials added. No injury or loss of any life was reported, according to Rangers officials. It was the second time in the last four days that the Indians shelled villages in Shakargarh Sector.
In Muzaffarabad, the capital of the Pakistani Kashmir, hundreds of people burnt staged protest against brutalities in Indian-Held Kashmir (IHK), burnt Indian flag and an effigy of Prime Minister Nerandara Modi. Most of the protestors were refugees from IHK who rallied under the banner of "Pasban-e-Hurriyat" (Protectors of Freedom). Many children also took part, displaying placards reading: "Go India Go back (from Kashmir)" and "Release Kashmiri leaders".
Addressing various public representative delegations at the Prime Minister House on Sunday, AJK Prime Minister Ch Abdul Majeed on Sunday warned India that the hearts of the people of Jammu and Kashmir people could not be won through perpetuating the reign of state terrorism and violence in occupied Kashmir. New Delhi, he said, shall have to grant Kashmiris their due right of self determination under the spirit of the United Nations resolutions.
AJK PM said New Delhi has maneuvered to change the demography of Kashmir through nefarious proposed plan of establishing the exclusive abodes of the Kashmiri Pandits (Hindus) in the Muslim-majority occupied Kashmir valley. "Indian government and its puppet administration in occupied Kashmir will not succeeded in their malicious designs", he said.
Ch Majeed said that the hearts of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan beat in unison. Kashmiris struggle for freedom from the Indian yoke will continue till the presence of a single Indian soldier in the occupied territory, he declared. He urged the international community to take immediate notice of the increased Indian human rights abuses in the occupied state.
Police in Indian Kashmir shot dead two youth, including a 16-year-old boy on Saturday during a demonstration on the outskirts of its main city Srinagar, as a separatist strike shut down the Himalayan region on a second day of violent clashes. Indian police said they had arrested two officers accused of shooting the teenager a few hours after the incident.
A preliminary investigation showed one of the officers fired his rifle on the directions of another officer "in violation of laid down SOP (Standard Operating Procedure)", a police statement said. Security was heavy on Sunday in the western part of the Kashmir Valley where the shooting occurred, while shops were shuttered and few residents were seen on the streets.
Pakistan's foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam in a tweet expressed sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims "of the brutality of Indian security forces". "Brutality and coercion will not suppress aspirations and struggle of Kashmiris of their right to self-determination, promised by the United Nations Security Council resolutions," she said.
Indian Kashmir has been rocked by violent protests for the past week after the brother of a top freedom movement leader was killed by the army near the town of Tral in the south of the Kashmir valley. Authorities have put all top separatist leaders under house arrest to prevent them from leading protests.
On Friday 30 people, mainly police officers, were injured as pro-Pakistan demonstrators in Srinagar set fire to an Indian flag and hurled rocks at them during a protest at the arrest of another separatist leader. Protesters have taken to the streets in Indian Kashmir since Friday to vent their anger at top separatist leader Masarat Alam Bhat's detention after he fronted a rally earlier in the week where followers waved Pakistani flags.
Anti-India sentiment runs deep across Kashmir, a picturesque Himalayan region that is the country's only Muslim-majority state. The region has been divided between India and Pakistan since the two countries gained independence in 1947. Both claim it in its entirety. Although several rebel groups have been fighting Indian forces since 1989 for independence or merger with Pakistan, street protests have become the main mode of opposition to Indian rule.