Islamabad: Acting President of the Jammu Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party, Mehmood Ahmad Saghar, has urged the international community to take immediate cognizance of the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

In a statement issued here today, Saghar said the people of the occupied territory have been facing severe Indian state repression for more than seven decades. He said India continues to deny the Kashmiri people their right to self-determination in gross violation of the UN Charter.

He said that instead of granting the Kashmiri people their inalienable right, Indian rulers have, over the past 75 years, attempted to crush their just freedom struggle through the use of military force.

Saghar deplored that nearly a million Indian troops deployed in the occupied territory are resorting to extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, targeted killings, enforced disappearances, and the molestation of women to intimidate Kashmiris into submission. He pointed out that India has turned IoK into a living hell for its inhabitants.

He said IoK has been stripped of basic human rights, adding that the entire Kashmiri leadership has been jailed under various pretexts to impose silence and project a so-called narrative of normalcy.

Saghar urged the international community to compel India to resolve the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people to ensure lasting peace in the region.

He also expressed grave concern over the rising tide of xenophobia and Islamophobia in India, stating that the persecution of Muslims and humiliation of Muslim women have been normalized. Referring to a recent incident involving the removal of a woman doctor's face veil by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, he said the episode, which shocked the community, reflected the extremist mindset entrenched in India's political hierarchy.