Pakistan Says, Concerned At Arrests In Indian Kashmir

Islamabad, Feb 12, IRNA – Pakistan on Monday expressed serious concern at arrests and ‘coercive’ measures in Indian-controlled Kashmir after execution of a Kashmiri leader Afzal Guru. Guru, convicted for his alleged role in the attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001, was hanged at Delhi’s Tihar Jail Saturday. Riots erupted in the Indian-administered Kashmir after Guru’s hanging who belonged to Kashmir. “We reaffirm our solidarity with the People of Jammu and Kashmir and express our serious concern on the high handed measures taken by India in the wake of Afzal Guruˈs execution to suppress the aspirations of Kashmiris by arrests and detention of Kashmiri leaders, curfew, news blackout and other coercive means,” the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said. “We call for the lifting of repressive measures and immediate release of Hurriyat leaders,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement. In response to a media question regarding the recent hanging of Afzal Guru, the spokesman did not directly comment on the execution and said that he would not want to go into details of the trial process. “The same was being discussed and debated by the media and the Human Rights organizations,” the spokesman said. Kashmiris leaders, fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, and Guru’s family had reportedly said that trial of Guru was fair, the claim rejected by India. Reports suggest Monday that two persons were killed and several injured in fresh clashes in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Pakistan-based Kashmiri groups have also staged rallies against Guru hanging in Kashmir and several Pakistani cities./end