BRUSSELS, Belgium: The Embassy of Pakistan in Brussels organized a Seminar entitled “Resolving Kashmir issue: A flash Point in South –Asia” on the eve of ‘Kashmir Black Day’ to express solidarity with the People of Kashmir as the brutalities continue with impunity even today in the Indian Occupied Kashmir.
‘Kashmir Black Day’ is observed on October 27 annually as it marks the beginning of grave human tragedy in Indian occupied Jammu & Kashmir as in 1947 on this day, Indian occupation forces landed in Srinagar to occupy, subjugate, oppress, and terrorize innocent Kashmiris.
The Seminar was attended by people of all walks of life, from Pakistani Belgian and international community based in Brussels including several ambassadors, foreign journalists and academics.
Belgian human rights activist Andy Vermaunt gave detailed account of Human Rights violations in the Indian Occupied Kashmir. He said that the facts and figures compiled on the basis of reports of international organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reveal that from January 1989 to May 2017, total killings have exceeded 100,000, over 141,166 civilians were arrested, more than 7,083 custodial killings took place, between 8,000 to 10,000 enforced disappearances, over 107,872 children were orphaned, about 22,836 women widowed and over 10,872 women were molested and gang-raped.
Ramisha Khan, a Master’s student of prestigious Leuven University, narrated the true stories of blinding of Kashmiri youth by Indian army through the use of pellet guns in the Indian Occupied Kashmir. She narrated the stories of young girls including 14-year-old Insha Mushtaq, 13 years old Ifra Jan and 5 years old Zohra.
Insha suffered wounds from pellets while standing in the kitchen of her home as she peeped through the window and the policemen, who were outside, targeted her with a swarm of pellets which pierced in to her eyes resulting in permanent and complete blindness.
Ramisha informed that Indian armed forces have admitted themselves that within few months to crush the uprisings they fired nearly 4,000 cartridges at demonstrators, who protested against police brutality, and even onlookers. It means 1.3m metal balls hurtling towards public gatherings predominantly made up of young unarmed people. They were shot on the face with pellets capable of piercing the eyes. She reminded that the body of an 11-year-old boy, was found on the outskirts of Srinagar, riddled with hundreds of pellets.
In his speech, Senior Representative of Students of Leuven University Wim Knaepen quoted the statement by the president of Students’ Union of Jawaherlal Nehru University Kanhaiya Kumar, in which, he had said “Kashmiri women are raped by Indian security personnel”.
Wim Knaepen said that this was an evidence to brutalities being committed by the Indian security forces in the occupied Kashmir. He added People within India are now recognizing the human rights violations by the Indian Security Forces in the Occupied Kashmir. The atrocities have reached a level that the reports of grave human rights violations are coming out despite the fact that India is not letting in Independent Observers.
Adil Sardar and Shahbaz Ghani rendered songs depicting the misery and pain of people in the Indian Occupied Kashmir.
In his concluding remarks, the Deputy Head of Mission Asif Hussain Memon said that despite commitments made by the early Indian leadership and numerous resolutions of the UN Security Council on Jammu & Kashmir, the Indian government has unleashed a reign of terror in Indian occupied Kashmir.
