President of Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement (JKSM) Altaf Ahmed Bhat. PHOTO: EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD:
As Kashmir marks another grim anniversary of the Gaw Kadal massacre, senior Hurriyat leader Altaf Ahmed Bhat has renewed his demands for international accountability, calling for an independent global investigation into serious human rights violations and war crimes committed by Indian forces in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
In a statement issued from Islamabad on the eve of the anniversary of the massacre, the president of the Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement and senior leader of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference paid solemn tributes to the Gaw Kadal martyrs, killed on January 21, 1990, when Indian forces opened indiscriminate fire on peaceful protesters in Srinagar.
He said the massacre was one of the darkest chapters in Kashmir’s contemporary history and a stark symbol of the brutal response to unarmed civilian resistance.
Recalling the events that led to the bloodshed, Altaf Ahmed Bhat said protesters at Gaw Kadal had rallied against alleged assaults on Kashmiri women by Indian troops a day earlier, only to be met with bullets instead of justice.
More than fifty civilians were killed and hundreds injured, many permanently.
“The victims of Gaw Kadal were not fighters. They were ordinary people demanding dignity, security and responsibility. Their only ‘crime’ was to raise their voices,” he said.
Altaf Ahmed Bhat stressed that despite thirty-five years having passed, no one has been held responsible for the massacre. “The denial of justice to victims and their families is not an exception; it reflects a broader pattern of institutional impunity that has prevailed in occupied Kashmir since 1989,” he said.
He said the Kashmiri people have paid an unbearable price for demanding their internationally recognized right to self-determination.
Citing documented data, he said that since 1989, nearly ninety-six thousand Kashmiris have been killed, including thousands in custody or in organized clashes.
Hundreds of thousands of people were arrested, tens of thousands of homes destroyed, thousands of women widowed, children orphaned and women victims of sexual violence.
“These are not isolated incidents. They represent a sustained campaign of repression against an entire population,” he added.
He stressed that the Kashmir issue is not just a political dispute but a humanitarian crisis that requires urgent global attention.
“When massacres like that of Gaw Kadal go unpunished, it encourages further violations. The silence of the international community comes at a cost, and Kashmiris continue to pay with their lives,” he noted.
Altaf Ahmed Bhat urged the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the European Union and other international human rights bodies to launch impartial investigations into the massacres, enforced disappearances, custodial executions and other serious violations in occupied Kashmir.
He called on world powers to go beyond statements of concern and take concrete steps to ensure accountability.
