Pakistan condemns ban on Kashmiri parties in IIOJK

ISLAMABAD: Strongly reacting to New Delhi’s ongoing campaign to crush dissent in the IIOJK, Pakistan on Tuesday condemned the former’s move declaring the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Freedom League (JKPFL) and four factions of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples League (JKPL) as “unlawful associations”.

In a statement, Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch also denounced the decision to extend the ban on Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (Yasin Malik faction) for five more years.

Narendra Modi-led Indian government’s ongoing campaign to crush dissent in the IIOJK contravened the international human rights and humanitarian law as well as democratic norms, the spokesperson said.

“The government of India is urged to lift the curbs on the banned Kashmiri parties; release all the political prisoners, including Yasin Malik; and implement the UN Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir,” she reiterated.

With the fresh notifications, a total of 14 Kashmiri political parties have become outlawed in the IIOJK. The affiliates of these parties are also facing persecution.

In addition to this, a death penalty has been sought for Yasin Malik, who was awarded a life sentence in 2022.

“However, such oppressive tactics cannot suppress the Kashmiri people’s aspirations for realisation of their inalienable right to self-determination, as enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions,” read the statement.