SRINAGAR, (DNA): Senior Hurriyat leader, Professor Abdul Ghani Butt, has said that India should accept the fact that Jammu and Kashmir is a recognized international dispute, which is testified by the relevant UN resolutions.

Professor Abdul Ghani Butt in a media interview in Srinagar said, if the Kashmir dispute is not resolved, the situation can lead to a nuclear catastrophe in South Asia and the world will not be able to cope with its dangerous consequences. He said that the human rights violations in occupied Kashmir by Indian troops were condemnable and military lockdown and the gagging of Internet were the worst of the rights abuses. He said that the people of the occupied territory were staying inside their homes and in this way they were expressing their anger in a graceful manner.

Professor Abdul Ghani Butt pointed out that the efforts of Pakistan, particularly those of its Prime Minister Imran Khan, had centre-staged the Kashmir dispute all across the globe and this issue had assumed the priority number one for the global powers.

Meanwhile, the residents of the Kashmir Valley continue to suffer immensely as India-imposed lockdown remained enforced on 111^th consecutive day, today. The increasing chill after fresh rains and snowfall has added to the miseries of the people. Due to continued lockdown, people could not stock essential commodities for the harsh winter – a centuries-old practice as Srinagar-Jammu Highway, the only surface link of the territory remains closed for most of the season. The anger among the masses increased against India over its illegal actions and the recent statement of the Indian Home Minister, Amit Shah, in which he claimed return of the normalcy in the Kashmir Valley. The presence of barbed wires and police check-points in every chowk of the Hindu-dominated Jammu city proves that the situation is contrary to the claims of the Indian rulers even about Jammu region.

Even former BJP leader, Yashwant Sinha, who is part of a team of Indian activists visiting occupied Kashmir talking to reporters in Srinagar refuted Amit Shah’s claims about the normalcy in Kashmir. He said that Amit Shah gave a one-sided picture of the Kashmir situation, which was far from normal as people in the Kashmir Valley were angry and distressed about the present situation.

The occupation authorities had to face embarrassment as Indian police itself shared with the media a document highlighting the human rights abuses by Indian troops in the territory. The document contains screenshots of pro-Kashmir tweets or reports, pictures of torture by the forces and anti-India statements by Pakistan or leaders of other countries.

On the other hand, three Left members of Indian Parliament have sought permission from the authorities of occupied Kashmir to visit the territory. The members of Rajya Sabha, upper house of Indian Parliament, T.K. Rangarajan, Elamaram Kareem and Binoy Viswam have written a letter to occupied Kashmir’s principal secretary, home, Shaleen Kabra, stating that if the administration could allow Members of the EuropeanParliament, surely Indian parliamentarians too could be allowed.=DNA