Pakistan PM’s aide calls for access to international observers in Indian-administered Kashmir

ISLAMABAD: Mushaal Hussein Mullick, the Pakistan prime minister’s aide on human rights, on Saturday demanded New Delhi give international observers access to Indian-administered Kashmir to investigate alleged rights abuses against the Kashmiri people, Pakistani state media reported.
The statement came a day ahead of the Kashmir Solidarity Day, which Pakistan observes every year on February 5 to express solidarity with the people of Indian-administered Kashmir. 
The Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir has been a flashpoint between Pakistan and India since their independence from the British rule in 1947. Both Pakistan and India rule parts of the Himalayan territory, but claim it in full and have fought three wars over the disputed region.
Mallick once again called for an early resolution of the Kashmir dispute and said the situation in Indian-administered Kashmir had reached a “crucial point,” the state-run Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.
“India is trying its best to execute Hurriyat leaders and then build some farcical narrative on it ahead of general elections [in September],” Mullick, wife of prominent Kashmiri leader Yasin Malik who is jailed in India since 2019, was quoted as saying.
“A Commission of Inquiry be made to probe India’s violations in the IIOJK (Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir) and the territory be made accessible to international observers so that ground realities can be brought before the world.”
In December last year, India’s Supreme Court upheld a 2019 decision by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to revoke special autonomous status for Indian-administered Kashmir and set a deadline of Sept 30 next year for state polls to be held.
The Modi government’s repealing of Article 370 of the constitution in 2019 allowed people from the rest of the country to have the right to acquire property in Indian-administered Kashmir and settle there permanently.
Kashmiris, rights groups and critics of the Indian government had termed the move an attempt to dilute the demographics of the only Muslim-majority Indian state.
In connection with the Kashmir Solidarity Day, a walk is scheduled to be held in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on Monday, which would be participated in by cabinet members, parliamentarians and people from different walks of life, according to Radio Pakistan.
Various other events would be held across Pakistan to express solidarity with the Kashmiri people.