Pakistan claims India to deploy RSS in Kashmir

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

Pakistan's Foreign Minister on Sunday claimed that India was preparing to deploy "goons" from a right-wing Hindu-nationalist group in Kashmir to carry out massacres in the valley.

The situation in Kashmir is deteriorating day by day with a humanitarian crisis looming, Shah Mahmood Qureshi told reporters in Khanewal, a district of northeastern Punjab province, in a statement aired on state-run Pakistan Television.

"We have the reports that Indian ruling party, BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party], is preparing to deploy the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] goons in Kashmir to carry out a massacre of the innocent people there", Qureshi claimed.

It is the responsibility of the international community to stop the Indian government and save the lives of the Kashmiri people, he added

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Singh is a prominent Hindu supremacist organization which gave birth to the ruling party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Qureshi also praised the Turkish people for holding a massive rally in Istanbul and Ankara to support their Muslim brothers and sisters in Kashmir.

"I am thankful to Turkish people and people of other Islamic countries who show solidarity with Kashmiri people and raised voice against the Indian government illegal actions," Qureshi said

The Indian-administered region has been facing a clampdown since Aug. 5, when the New Delhi revoked Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which conferred it a special status.

Hundreds, mainly political leaders, have been detained or arrested by authorities since the move.

Kashmiri leaders and residents fear the move is an attempt by India to change the demography of the state, where some groups have been fighting Indian rule for either independence or unification with neighboring Pakistan.

India and Pakistan both hold Kashmir in parts and claim it in full. China also controls part of the contested region, but it is India and Pakistan who have fought two wars over Kashmir.

According to several human rights groups, thousands of people have been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.