SRINAGAR: Repression in Kashmir features prominently in Amnesty International’s 2016-17 report, saying that Indian authorities are using repressive laws to curb freedom of expression and silence voices in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Amnesty report revealed that Indian forces used unnecessary or excessive force against demonstrators in occupied Kashmir.
In the report, ‘The State of the World’s Human Rights’ an analysis of the situation in 159 countries, the human rights body said that the Indian state is using oppressive laws to silence student activists, academics, journalists and human rights defenders.
The report has highlighted the arrest of Kashmiri human rights defender, Khurram Parvez, and also drawn attention to the ban on English daily Kashmir Reader in October, last year.
While referring to the ban imposed by the puppet authorities on publication of local newspapers for three days in July, the report said, “In September, Khurram Parvez, a Kashmiri human rights defender, was arrested and detained for over two months on spurious grounds, a day after he was prevented from travelling to a United Nations Human Rights Council session in Geneva, Switzerland.
In October, the government ordered a Srinagar-based newspaper to cease printing and publication on baseless grounds.
A suspension on private landline, mobile and internet service providers undermined a range of rights and residents said it left them unable to reach urgent medical assistance,” the report mentions.