SRINAGAR, Aug 2: In a rare attempt by separatists to bring Kashmir into focus at the global level, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) are exploiting the 2012 Olympic Games venue in London by displaying banners highlighting the alleged human rights violations in the region.
“The campaign will help the world to understand the Kashmir issue in its right perspective and also highlight the importance of respecting the peaceful and democratic struggle of Kashmiris,” JKLF chief Yasin Malik who is spearheading the campaign in Srinagar told Hindustan Times.
The separatist group has termed the campaign ‘Torch of Peace’.
Kashmir, where tens of thousands have died in two decades of conflict involving security forces and militants, is falling into oblivion at the international level, mainly due to violence in other regions such as the uprising in Syria and also due to economic crisis in the west.
Separatists have also been accusing Pakistan of shelving its support to Kashmir for “gaining from economic ties” with India, both of which have fought at least three wars over it in sixty years.
As part of its campaign, JKLF activists on Thursday drove vans around the Olympic venues and the streets of London flashing hoardings, banners and photographs depicting alleged human rights abuses in Kashmir.
“The statistics about the martyred and disappeared person will travel throughout the Olympic valley highlighting the Kashmir issue and human rights violations being committed on the Kashmiri people by the Indian army and forces,” said Malik, whose party seeks Jammu and Kashmir’s independence from both India and Pakistan.
“The world community should support their cause for a peaceful resolution of this long lasting dispute, which continues to remain a threat to the pace, stability and welfare of the sub-continent and the rest of the world.”
