ISLAMABAD: The Legal Forum for Kashmir (LFK) has published its Bi-Annual Review for 2024, revealing severe human rights violations and escalating repression in Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IOJK). The report calls for urgent international intervention to address the ongoing plight of the Kashmiri people.
Covering the first six months of 2024, the review documents extensive human rights abuses by Indian authorities. The period saw 202 cordon and search operations (CASOs), resulting in 72 deaths, including 19 civilians, 23 freedom fighters, and 30 Indian personnel. LFK highlights numerous extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, and the misuse of anti-terror laws to suppress dissent and silence human rights defenders.
The report details systematic torture and inhumane treatment of civilians, aiming to instill fear and quash resistance. It also notes the heightened militarization in IOJK, which has exacerbated the human tragedy. The occupying forces have intensified military operations, confiscated, and demolished civilian properties, causing significant displacement and suffering among the local population.
Human rights defenders, lawyers, and journalists have faced increased targeting and persecution, with anti-terror laws criminalizing the efforts of civil society organizations, socio-religious groups, and independent media. This has effectively stifled free expression and assembly.
LFK’s findings are based on comprehensive on-ground research and data collection, supported by official records, media reports, and NGO fact-finding missions. The organization calls on the international community to hold not only the direct perpetrators accountable but also those who order or incite these human rights violations.
