Daily Times

BEIJING: The life sentence handed down to prominent Kashmiri leader Yasin Malik by an Indian court is illegal, therefore, Yasin Malik should be released from prison immediately and unconditionally, Cheng Xizhong said on Tuesday.

“Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) has always been under the bloody rule of India. The Kashmiri people are eager for liberation and freedom. Yasin Malik is a leader of the Kashmiri national self-determination movement. His cause is just and behind him are all the Kashmiri people.”

Therefore, he is completely innocent, he added. Prof. Cheng, who is also a Senior Fellow of the Charhar Institute, pointed out that the Indian authorities accuse Yasin Malik of terrorism, which is confusing right and wrong. In fact, Indian authorities have arbitrarily arrested, imprisoned and killed a large number of unarmed Kashmiris, raped Kashmiri women, implemented the policy of isolation in IIOJK, and committed heinous crimes.

These are state terrorism, and therefore,  Indian authorities should be punished. Yasin Malik is sentenced to life imprisonment, which fully illustrates the hypocrisy of India’s so-called democracy.

In India, there is only democracy for the rulers, not for the people, in particular, not for ethnic minorities including Kashmiris, he added. Prof. Cheng called on the international community, and human rights organizations, especially the United Nations to unanimously condemn Malik’s life sentence, and take immediate actions to force the Indian authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally.