ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has condemned the decision of Indian occupation authorities to declare the Muslim League Jammu Kashmir as an “unlawful association” for a period of five years.

The Foreign Office, in a statement today, said the party is led by the prominent Kashmiri leader Masarrat Alam Bhatt, who remains imprisoned for a period exceeding 20 years.

The Muslim League Jammu Kashmir-Masarrat Alam is the fifth Kashmiri party banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir, Dukhtaraan-e-Millat, and Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party have already been outlawed.

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The Foreign Office said their leadership is being relentlessly persecuted through prolonged detention and confiscation of properties. The Office of All Parties Hurriyat Conference in Srinagar was also sealed earlier this year.

Banning the political parties and persecuting their leadership manifests a desire to stifle dissent in sheer disregard of democratic norms and international human rights and humanitarian law.

The people of Jammu and Kashmir have consistently rejected India’s harsh tactics aimed at consolidating its occupation. These actions blatantly violate the foundational principles of the United Nations Charter, which affirm the fundamental rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, including the right to self-determination.

The Foreign Office further said that India should immediately lift curbs on the banned political parties in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, release all the political prisoners and dissenters, and implement the UN Security Council’s resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir.