Pakistan offers medical aid to Indian-controlled Kashmir to fight coronavirus

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - The government of Pakistan-administered Kashmir offered on Wednesday to send medical aid to the Indian-controlled part of the valley to help Kashmiris fight a deadly wave of the coronavirus.

"AJK [Azad Jammu and Kashmir] is ready to send a consignment of medicines, ventilators, oxygen, sensitisers, masks and PPEs [personal protection equipment] to help Kashmiris fight coronavirus. The consignment can be delivered by AJK Red Crescent," the president of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Sardar Masood Khan, said in a statement.

Citing concern about the fast-deteriorating COVID-19 situation in Jammu and Kashmir, he appealed to the World Health Organization (WHO) to persuade New Delhi to "allow and ensure delivery of the consignment.”

"The territory has become a coronavirus hotspot because of Indian occupation authorities’ mismanagement of the pandemic and their discriminatory policy towards Kashmiris," said Khan, who served as Pakistan's permanent representative to the UN from 2012 to 2015.

He asked WHO chief Tedros Adhanom to "intercede to save the Kashmiris from the rapid march of death in the occupied territory."

Khan also appealed to the leadership of China, the US, Western nations, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to send a special consignment of medicines, ventilators, and oxygen, specifically for Kashmiris.

“This situation is alarming because Kashmiris of the occupied territory are not receiving medical support and care to beat the deadly virus. Besides, COVID- positive cases and fatalities are being underreported,” he said.

Referring to the death of a jailed pro-freedom leader, Ashraf Sehrai on Wednesday, he said the plight of people in India-occupied Jammu and Kashmir is compounded by the fact that incarcerated leaders are not receiving medical care.

Several Kashmiri leaders, including Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Shahid-ul-Islam, and Farooq Ahmed Dar, imprisoned in New Delhi's notorious Tihar jail, have tested positive for coronavirus.