*ANKARA: *A senior Turkish lawmaker on Tuesday called on the Indiangovernment to end the worsening human rights violations in Indian OccupiedKashmir “as immediately as possible.”
“Human rights violations have shown a massive increase in Indian OccupiedKashmir ( IOK) since August 5, 2019,” Hakan Cavusoglu, the head ofparliament’s Human Rights Commission, said in a statement.
Cavusoglu mentioned how thousands of troops were deployed to the region inearly August before India took the sudden, unprecedented move of revokingthe region’s special status.
IOK have been facing a communications blackout since August 5, when NewDelhi stripped the disputed region of special provisions guaranteed by theIndian Constitution.
“I call on the Indian government to end the human rights violations in IOKas immediately as possible,” he said.
Cavusoglu said the recent incidents in the region “turned Kashmir into oneof the most sensitive regions in the world.”
From 1954 until August 5, 2019, IOK enjoyed special status under the IndianConstitution, which allowed it to enact its own laws.
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The provisions also protected the region’s citizenship law, which barredoutsiders from settling in and owning land in the territory.
After New Delhi’s move of scrapping IOK special status, it has been under anear-complete lockdown since August 5.
Several rights groups including Human Rights Watch and AmnestyInternational have repeatedly called on India to lift restrictions andrelease political detainees.
Indian authorities, however, claim that daytime restrictions have beenlifted in 90 per cent of the region.
India and Pakistan both hold Kashmir in parts and claim it in full. Chinaalso controls part of the contested region, but it is India and Pakistanwho have fought two wars over Kashmir. – Anadolu Agency