Kashmir’s EU Week begins in Brussels

Brussels: Kashmir EU Week, the week-long arrangement of events on Kashmir started in the European Headquarters Brussels.

There was opening of a photo exhibition on Kashmir evening of yesterday, the first day of the program which will remain continued till 15th December.

A number of the people from different walks of life visited the exhibition and expressed their keen interest in the current situation in the occupied Kashmir. The events of Kashmir EU Week which is being organized by Kashmir Council Europe (KC-EU) also include conferences, seminars, discussions, a media conference and meetings at European Press Club Brussels, European parliament, and other institutions in the EU headquarters.

Talking on the opening of the photo exhibition at the EU Press Club, Chairman of KC-EU Ali Raza Syed said, beside the events at EU Press Club and EU Parliament, there would also be several meetings with the European officials, members of European parliament and representatives of civil society and human rights organizations during the Kashmir EU Week.

He explained the topics of the events would be related to history of the Kashmir dispute and the current situation of the conflict particularly human rights violations committed by the Indian occupation forces in the occupied land of Jammu and Kashmir.

Chairman Kashmir Council Europe Ali Raza Syed said, the weeklong programs of Kashmir’s EU week are being organized by Kashmir Council EU for many years and purpose of these events is to highlight the beauty of the Kashmir’s culture side by side the focusing on miseries of oppressed Kashmiris in Europe.

He expressed fear that as the world is currently focused on the tense situation in Europe (Ukraine) and the Middle East, the Modi government can take advantage of this situation to carry out some heinous act in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Ali Raza Syed added, under the different pretexts, India wants to maintain its illegal possession of this region for a long time. Genocide of Kashmiris, extra-judicial killings, arbitrary arrests and crude tactics like amendment of domicile laws to change the Kashmiri population ratio are part of Indian nefarious motives.

Ali Raza Syed said that many Kashmiri leaders and activists, including Yasin Malik, are currently under arrest or detention and the purpose of these actions is to suppress strong voices favoring the oppressed Kashmiris. He paid tribute to Yasin Malik and other imprisoned Kashmiri leaders and activists and called for their immediate release. He said that we salute the brave Kashmiri leaders and activists and appreciate their courage who have been struggling for the rights of Kashmiris for a long time.

He further said, as in these days people in all over the world stood against the state terrorism and atrocities on the common citizens are being condemned, we hope world would prevent Indian brutalities on the Kashmiris.

He asked the international community especially European Union to put pressure on India to immediately end crimes of Indian security forces against people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir and grant them right to self determination according the UN’s resolutions on Kashmir issue. He said, since 1947 the people of occupied Kashmir are facing endless hardships as their deprivations are being increased day by day.

It is duty of international community including Europe Union to take immediate action in order to stop the atrocities against the people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir. So that situation of the disputed land should be normalized, and people of Jammu and Kashmir should be provided a peaceful atmosphere where they can use their right to self determination in accordance with their wishes and according to United Nations resolutions.