Islamabad: In Doda district of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir disstrict curbs remained in force for the fifth consecutive day on Saturday to suppress protests against the detention of MLA Meraj Malik under the draconian Public Safety Act.

According to Radio Pakistan, life remained paralyzed as internet services and educational institutions stayed shut, while large contingents of Indian forces patrolled the streets. So far, police have arrested more than eighty people, including several women, for participating in demonstrations.

Meanwhile, hundreds of fruit growers staged a massive protest in Sopore against the anti-people policies of the BJP-installed administration. The protesters revealed that thousands of fruit-laden trucks have been stranded on the highway for over two weeks, causing the produce to rot. They stressed that the authorities had utterly failed to ensure smooth transportation for the harvest, with farmers’ losses estimated at nearly twelve billion rupees.

All Parties Hurriyat Conference spokesperson, Advocate Abdul Rashid Minhas in a statement issued in Srinagar, expressed grave concern over the plight of Hurriyat leaders, activists, and other Kashmiri detainees. He said they were jailed merely for advocating a peaceful political settlement of the Kashmir dispute. He stressed that the BJP-led Indian government was attempting to crush Kashmiris’ freedom spirit through brute state terrorism. The APHC urged UN Secretary General Ant³nio Guterres to intervene for the release of these detainees and the just resolution of the Kashmir dispute.

A coalition of international human rights organizations has slammed India for keeping its student activist Umar Khalid behind bars for five years without trial. In a joint statement ahead of the fifth anniversary of his arrest, Amnesty International, the International Commission of Jurists, the International Federation for Human Rights, Forum Asia, Front Line Defenders, and the World Organisations have underlined that his prolonged detention exposes the collapse of justice.