Former interior minister and Pakistan People’s Party Overseas President Senator Rehman Malik wrote a letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) against recent and ongoing killings of innocent people by Indian forces in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK).
Malik asked the UN official to move against the Indian government and take necessary actions under the UN charter. In his letter, Senator Malik wrote that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has also taken a serious notice of the killing of Kashmiri people by Indian forces.
Senator Malik wrote, “The Indian forces have butchered more than 45 people and more than 300 have been seriously injured in this barbarism since Friday, July 8 and it is still continued.”
He added that it is very disappointing to note that the world has chosen to ignore these sheer violations of human rights just to oblige India.
Senator Malik wrote that no action has been taken by the international human rights organisations whereas there should have been a visit by the UN Human Rights Commission to investigate these violations of human rights.
“This recent sheer violation of human rights looks to be going unnoticed this time too like in past major incidents of human rights violation in IHK by Indian forces; why is it being overlooked by International Human Rights bodies, including the UN Human Rights Commission?” Senator Malik questioned the OHCHR in his letter.
Supporting the cause of people of Kashmir who are struggling peacefully for their right of self-determination, Senator Malik wrote that the people of IHK are simply asking for their right of self-determination referring to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 47, adopted on April 21, 1948 which was passed in their favour.
He said the people of Kashmir were gathered to pay tribute to their leader Burhan Wani, who was earlier killed by the Indian Army in custody.
“Such killings of innocent people have become a routine by the Indian forces against the oppressed people of Kashmir which proves that Indian forces have no value for human rights and human lives,” he wrote.
He said that it is not for the first time, the same had happened in 2010 when more than 120 innocent young Kashimiris were killed by the Indian Army but unfortunately nobody was held responsible for that brutality due to the lack of interest of International Human Rights Organisation in that painful tragedy.
Senator Malik expressed his hope and appealed the OHCHR to appoint a commission to investigate these killings. The matter should also be raised in the UN General Assembly with the proposed resolution asking the Indian government to stop this brutality in the IHK, he said.