ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office has condemned the summoning of two relatives of Kashmiri leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq by the Indian counterterrorism agency and termed it a coercive, pressure tactic adopted to harass the Kashmiri leadership and subjugate indigenous Kashmiri struggle against the oppressive Indian regime.

Reacting to reports about the Indian National Investigation Agency issuing a notice to Molvi Manzoor Ahmed and Molvi Shafat Ahmed, uncles of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, asking them to report to its headquarters in New Delhi, the FO spokesperson said in a statement that intimidating relatives of Kashmiri leaders and psychologically torturing them through such reprehensible moves served no purpose, but added to the long list of grave human rights violations committed by India against unprotected Kashmiris.

Earlier, the NIA had arrested Shahid Islam, a close aide to Mr Farooq, on trumped-up charges of terror financing.

The statement said that persistent Indian denial of the indigenous struggle of Kashmiri people now appeared to have mutated into frustrated focus on different kinds of trumped-up charges.

However, it said, India should realise that the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiris for their right to self-determination could not be wished away, or subjugated, through such oppressive measures.

Pakistan would continue to extend unflinching political, moral and diplomatic support to peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute in line with the aspirations of Kashmiri people and relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, the FO spokesperson said.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2017