Srinagar, Mar 25: Civil society group Kashmir Center for Social & Development Studies (KCSDS) Sunday said it was deeply distressed at the “unmitigated spilling of human blood within the State of Jammu & Kashmir and on both sides of the LOC”.
In an official statement made public on Sunday, the KCSDS Chairperson Hameeda Nayeem said that of late, “indiscriminate heart rending killings of civilians, including women and children young boys who pick up guns to fight, police personnel and soldiers on both sides of the LOC and within the State has agonized us a great deal”.
“Apart from horrendous deaths, the civilians within the State and on both sides of the LOC suffer crippling injuries and irreparable damage to their properties and psychological trauma due to heavy exchange of fire on a routine basis,” the statement read.
KCSDS said that the “heartfelt response” to the unnecessary avoidable killings, maiming and destruction of property of civilians is imbued by a grave human concern.
“Apart from taking a heavy toll of the civilian lives within the State and on both sides of the LOC, unrestrained exchange of fire on the LOC results in death and maiming of the armed forces on both sides,” the statement said.
The civil society group said they wanted attention of concerned authorities to the fact that in the last six years, 700 soldiers have committed suicide owing to “unbearable stress of disturbed conditions” in the State.
“One could only imagine how much toll it has taken on civilian populace over the past three decades in every respect Comparable figures on the other side is not known.”
The group said it would like to invite the attention of the governments of India and Pakistan to the fact that continuous spilling of human blood is no answer to the raging Kashmir dispute.
“The non-resolution is causing colossal misery all around, not only to the people of the State but to the entire subcontinent and threatening the security and stability of the entire region. It is high time that sanity is restored to relations between India and Pakistan. Humanity and morality must override narrow considerations of politics and ideology. Both the governments must prioritize the protection of human life, which is the primary duty of any govt and take appropriate measures to save and honour it without succumbing to the narrow, inhuman considerations of religion, ethnicity, nationality or language.
“We fervently appeal to all the parties to promote an immediate Ceasefire within the State and on the LOC. Saving human life must be the paramount concern and duty to start with, followed by a sincere and serious effort to resolve the problem, like civilised human beings, over the table.”
“We also appeal civil societies of both the countries to impress upon their respective governments to enter into a sustained and serious dialogue to resolve the issue that has already generated colossal tragedies on both sides and hampered their growth and development,” the statement read.
