Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 6: Pakistan India Peoples’ Forum for Peace & Democracy (PIPFPD) has appealed the Government of India to immediately re-start political negotiations with J&K based political parties and hold elections besides restoring statehood of Jammu & Kashmir.
In a press statement, issued from New Delhi on third anniversary of ending J&K’s special status besides re-organization of the erstwhile State, the Forum has pooh-poohed the Government claims of peace and progress in Jammu & Kashmir in the last three years and said that denial of the conflict and crisis will no longer help in negating the reality of the aggravation of the problem.
“It is important that the Indian Government undertakes a course correction by doing some serious and honest introspection about the negative impacts of its actions on the people, the ecology and the socio-cultural fabric of the region,” said the statement.
Claiming that Government data on militancy and terrorism does not indicate any major change, the Forum said that present escalation in militancy is alarming and has led to increasing sense of insecurity and fear – both among the minorities and the majority, who face the dual wrath of the armed militants and the state security agencies.
“The random arrests, routine crackdowns, raids by security forces and the NIA, slapping of anti-terror laws against civilians including academics, lawyers, businessmen, media-persons and social activists with little or no judicial remedies, have further added to the vulnerability of the common people,” reads the statement while listing specific instance of alleged misuse of provisions of the Public Safety Act.
Further, PIPFPD alleged that the media has been virtually silenced by choking the revenue of local newspapers writing critically, issuing police summons to journalists reporting fairly and professionally, by eliminating all spaces of solidarity like the shutting down of the Kashmir Press Club in January 2022 and by introducing a draconian Media Policy in 2022, which empowers an official to arbitrarily decide what is anti-national or fake news.
Pointing out that no elections have been held and a delimitation of Assembly constituencies was done in a way that overlooks public convenience, demography and geography but offers a clear advantage to BJP, the Forum alleged that all opposition voices have been silenced with state’s institutions like Enforcement Directorate and Anti-Corruption Bureau framing cases against political leaders and others who dare to speak out.
“The fact remains that Indian Government is administering Jammu & Kashmir as an occupied territory, where democracy and elections have become collateral damage,” PIPFPD alleged and demanded immediate release of all political prisoners, re-start political negotiations with J&K based political parties and groups and hold elections.
The Forum also demanded resuming diplomatic dialogue with Pakistan, including on Kashmir issue and allow people-to-people dialogue to take place between the people of Kashmir on both sides, issuing visas for divided families and re-opening the trade routes through Jammu & Kashmir.
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