Daily Times

SRINAGAR: A prominent pro-India Kashmiri politician has resigned from India’s parliament and from his regional party to protest a government crackdown in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) that prevented people from offering Eid prayers for the first time in the region.

Tariq Hameed Karra, a founding member of the People’s Democratic Party, said he quit on Thursday to express his anger over the “brutal policy” followed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and the acquiescence of his party, a coalition partner.

His decision is a setback for his party in IHK, which has been wracked by massive protests for the past two months following the killing of a top rebel leader.

More than 80 people have been killed and thousands wounded, mostly by government forces firing bullets and shotgun pellets to quell the protests.

Human rights violations in IHK are not an internal matter of the Indian state, said Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary-General Iyad Amin Madani last month.

The head of the world’s largest bloc of Muslim countries had expressed concern over human rights violations in occupied Kashmir, which has seen weeks of deadly clashes between Muslim protesters and police.

Separately, the Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador Tehmina Janjua, on Wednesday welcomed the remarks by the United Nations high commissioner for human rights regarding excessive use of force by Indian security forces in IHK.

“Pakistan supported the position of the High Commissioner that an OHCHR team should visit India-occupied Kashmir to independently and impartially investigate the grave violations being perpetrated by Indian occupation forces over the past two months,” said Janjua.

She added the visit by the UN team would help address the culture of impunity which is prevalent in IHK. Ambassador Janjua said claims of restraint shown by India are simply preposterous.

“Jammu and Kashmir is an international issue recognised as such by a number of UNSC resolutions,” the permanent representative told the Human Rights Commission.

The Foreign Office said that there is no agreement with India for using Pakistan’s land routes for supplies to Afghanistan.