Pakistan condemns India's banning another Kashmiri group

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD (AA) - Pakistan on Monday condemned India’s decision to ban another Kashmiri political group and declared it "unlawful."

The Foreign Ministry said Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir (TeH) is the second Kashmiri party banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in less than a week.

"Banning of political parties is part of India’s relentless campaign to subjugate the Kashmiri people, suppress dissent, and consolidate its occupation of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). These actions blatantly violate democratic norms and international human rights and humanitarian law," said Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry in a statement.

With the ban, the total number of outlawed Kashmiri political parties increases to six, according to the ministry.

On Sunday, Indian Interior Minister Amit Shah said Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir is involved in “forbidden activities” aimed at separating Jammu and Kashmir from India and the establishment of “Islamic rule.”

Under the country’s anti-terror law, the party has been banned for five years.

Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu Wa Kashmir, or the Movement for Freedom Jammu and Kashmir, was founded in 2004 by late pro-freedom leaders Syed Ali Geelani and Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai after they quit the Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir, which was banned in 2019 by the Indian government.

Sehrai died in May 2021 while in police custody and Geelani died under house arrest in September 2021.

Last week, New Delhi also banned a faction of the Muslim League Jammu Kashmir led by incarcerated pro-freedom leader Masarat Alam Bhat on similar charges.

- Disputed region

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars – in 1948, 1965, and 1971 – two of them over Kashmir.

Also, in the Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire went into effect in 2003.

In August 2019, India scrapped the longstanding semi-autonomous status of the disputed valley, a controversial move that prompted Islamabad to downgrade its diplomatic mission and halt trade with New Delhi.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights groups, thousands of people have been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.