New Delhi:
The human rights activists and press in the world has overlooked the victims of years of terror perpetrated by in Kashmir, a senior Indian journalist told the Foreign Affairs Committee of US House of Representatives. Aarti Tikoo Singh, who is from Kashmir, appeared before the the committee during hearing on 'Human Rights in South Asia'. She said that neither human rights activists nor world media had felt the moral obligation to talk about victims of Pakistani terror in Kashmir. Singh also called the Congressional hearing "prejudiced, biased, a setup against India and in favour of Pakistan".
"The 30 years of Islamic jihad and terror in Kashmir perpetrated by Pakistan has been completely ignored and overlooked by the world press," she said.
The Congressional hearing, she said, was "completely prejudiced against 15,000 Kashmiri Muslims civilians who had been killed by Pakistan".
"It is prejudiced against 3 lakh Kashmiri Pandits who were ethnically cleansed from Kashmir in 1990. It is prejudiced against over 700 Kashmiri Pandits who work here in Kashmir in 1990," she said.
"The fundamental point that I am trying to make is the victims in Kashmir are the ones who have been killed and massacred by Pakistani sponsored terrorists. The number of Kashmiri Muslims who have been killed in Kashmir is immense and they have been victimised by the Pakistani terror state. The 30 years of Islamic jihad and terror in Kashmir perpetrated by Pakistan has been completely ignored and overlooked by the world press," said Singh.
Mentioning the killing of Rising Kashmir editor Shujaat Bukhari, Singh said that he was shot for reporting the activities of Pakistan in the Valley.
"The victims of such perpetration are my Kashmiri Muslim friends, including Shujaat Bukhari, a senior journalist and a peace activist who believed in resolving Kashmir through dialogue between India and Pakistan. He went from city to city across the world trying to convince the powerful players that Kashmir needs peace. But on June 14, 2018, he was shot dead right outside his office in Srinagar by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the same terror outfit banned by the United States that also perpetrated the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks,” Tikoo added.
"Why did they kill him? Because Shujaat wanted Pakistan to end violence and human rights abuse in Kashmir. They killed him because he wanted peace," she said.
