Daily Times

MIRPUR: Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry while vehemently condemning the unjust sentencing of JKLF chairman Yasin Malik by India’s Kangaroo court appealed on Friday to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to play his role in the early release of the Kashmiri leader. In a letter addressed to the UN SCG, the AJK president while highlighting the Indian government’s mala fide intentions behind the controversial court ruling said that the incarcerated leader was neither given ample opportunity to defend his case in the court of law nor was he given the right to fair trial that happens to be a fundamental right of a prisoner.

He said that Malik’s conviction and sentencing in a manifestly dubious and politically motivated case was a deep-rooted conspiracy to silence the Kashmiri leader who has championed the Kashmiris’ inalienable rights and sought a settlement of the Kashmir dispute through dialogue and diplomacy. Malik, he said, has been a strong proponent of Kashmiris’ right to self-determination.

“Malik is being punished because of his political beliefs”, the letter said, adding that the unjust sentencing of Yasin Malik was tantamount to pushing Kashmiris’ new generation to violence.Malik’s life sentence, he said, was a reflection of India’s belligerent mindset and antagonistic approach to crush Kashmiris’ legitimate political demands.

The letter further highlighted the Indian government’s designs to change the demographic complexion of the disputed territory. “India has issued fake domiciles to non-state Hindus in Occupied Kashmir to change the proportion of population in the area of Occupied Kashmir”, the letter said, adding that India wanted to bring a Chief Minister of its choice in the region.He said that it was incumbent upon the UN to stop human rights violations in Kashmir that happens to be an internationally recognized disputed territory.

The president said that the UN should also play its role in granting Kashmiris their right to self-determination promised to them by the leadership India and Pakistan. The AJK President also wrote to the UN Commission on Human Rights, the President of the European Union, the President of the European Parliament, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament and other European Parliaments urging them to play their role in release of Yasin Malik and other leaders who have been languishing in different jails in and outside Kashmir for past several years.