By DPA,
Islamabad : Pakistan Wednesday urged the international community to press India for “restrain” in the Kashmir Valley, where 20 people were killed in police firings early this week during protests.
“We are deeply concerned over the deteriorating situation in the Indian Occupied Kashmir which is resulting in loss of life and property of the Kashmiri people and violation of their human rights,” foreign ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq told reporters in a weekly media briefing here.
He called on the UN and human rights organisations to take notice of the “gross violation of human rights of Kashmiri people, unwarranted violence against them and their economic blockade perpetrated by extremist elements”.
India should be impressed upon “to observe restrain and rein-in the extremist elements that are seeking economic destruction of the Kashmiri people,” he added.
For the last two months, both the Hindu-majority Jammu region and the Muslim Kashmir Valley have been locked in unparalleled strife on communal lines over the transfer and subsequent revocation of 40 hectares of land to the Amarnath board. The board manages the annual pilgrimage to the shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva.
The burning issue set off a wave of protests, shutdowns and violence first in the Kashmir Valley, then in Jammu — and now back in the valley – virtually paralysing the state.