ISLAMABAD – As world observes the International Day of Persons withDisabilities, Pakistan on Thursday said that the occasion should serve as astark reminder for the international community to act resolutely forstopping India from further blinding and maiming of people in occupiedJammu and Kashmir, preventing the region from becoming a cruel source ofdisabilities in the world.

Pakistan has also expressed its solidarity with the victims in occupiedvalley who have been brutally disabled by the use of pellet guns andtorture inflicted by Indian occupation forces.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the UNSpecial Procedure Mandate Holders and the international media and civilsociety have condemned India for these atrocities being committed with fullimpunity in IIOJK.

According to the OHCHR Kashmir Report 2019, “1,253 people have been blindedby the metal pellets used by security forces from mid-2016 to the end of2018” in IIOJK. The number of people, including women and children, blindedand disabled by the pellet guns in IIOJK has risen significantly since thepublication of this report.

Amnesty International’s report, titled “Losing Sight in Kashmir: The Impactof Pellet-Firing Shotguns”, has given a pictorial illustration ofKashmiris, mostly women and children, who have been blinded by the use ofpellet guns in IIOJK.