Srinagar, Dec 09 (KNS): All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) on Wednesday expressed "serious concern over abysmal human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir, saying due to lingering J&K conflict there has been no signs of improvement visible on ground."
According to statement issued to Kashmir News Service (KNS), it said that for past three decades "the abysmal human rights situation in Jammu & Kashmir due to the lingering conflict, though highlighted globally at various fora , has shown no sign of improvement. In fact it has only worsened for people with time, being taken to another level since August 5 last year, with enforcement of unprecedented lockdowns extra judicial measures and communications gags."
"The people in this Muslim majority state are being punished by those in power preciously for being that - a Muslim majority. Even fundamental human rights of people of J&K are not recognized. An atmosphere of fear and intimidation has been created to coerce people of all sections of society, statement reads.
It said, despite the global pandemic Corona virus, hitting us all even basic facility of high-speed internet is inaccessible to the people of J&K thereby adding to our woes and miseries. Tens of thousands of people have been subjected to enforced disappearance. Communication blockades and suspension of internet is almost a daily occurrence. "
APHC said that arrests and imprisonments at the will of the state through force is unprecedented here. “Thousands of activists, youth political workers, respected members of civil society, social workers and political leaders are languishing in jails without charges and access to legal redressal”, it said.
Owing to this policy APHC Chairman Mirwaiz Moulvi Muhammad Umar is under arbitrary house detention for the last one-and-a-half years, statement reads.

APHC appealed international human rights organizations including United Nations Human Rights Council, Amnesty International, Asia Watch, National Human Rights Commission; and to the conscience of international leaders and policy makers and all people in general to play their part in ensuring that the conflict is resolved and the fundamental human rights of people of J&K are respected and reinstated.
APHC also appealed to all these forums for the release of Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the entire political leadership and all the political prisoners of J&K imprisoned in various jails of India. (KNS)