Former Norwegian prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik called on Special Assistant to prime minister on Foreign Affairs Syed Tariq Fatemi here on Friday.
Bondevik along with a two-member delegation visited Pakistan and Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) from March 29-31 to get a firsthand understanding of the ongoing Indian atrocities and gross human rights violations perpetrated by Indian forces against Kashmiri people in Indian-held Kashmir.
Earlier, he travelled to the Kashmiri state where he called on President Masood Khan and Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan and also visited camps of refugees who had fled from the Indian occupied territory.Welcoming the delegation, Special Assistant Fatemi highlighted the continuing grave human rights violations of the Kashmir people by India, which had intensified over the past months.
He strongly condemned continued Indian use of pellet guns and live ammunition on peaceful protestors which had already resulted in approximately 200 civilian deaths, 20,000injured and hundreds, including young girls and children, being blinded. Despite strong international condemnation, India had recently imported 4000 more pellet guns.
The Hurriyat leadership was imprisoned or placed under house arrest. Indian paramilitary forces were burning and shutting down schools resulting in children being denied of their basic human rights to education. Fatemi said that the imposition of almost constant curfew in the disputed state made the lives of innocent people miserable.
Their situation was further aggravated by the Indian government deliberately creating a shortage of basic amenities, including food for children and medicines. Bondevik underscored that Kashmir issue was a long-standing conflict and needed a political solution, taking into account the UN Security Council resolutions and the will ofthe Kashmiri people along both sides of the Line of Control.
The special assistant expressed the hope that Bondevik’s visit to AJK had provided an opportunity to him to witness firsthand agonyof divided families and the plight of the Kashmiri refugees who had migrated to AJK to escape Indian atrocities. Fatemi appreciated the strong support of Bondevik for protection of human rights and urged him to sensitize the international community about the gross Indian atrocities and the need for expedited resolution of the Jammu Kashmir issue, in line with the relevant UNresolutionsand the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
Bondevik is the founder and president of the Oslo Centre for Peace and Human Rights. He was prime minister ofNorway from 1997-2000 and again 2001-2005. He is a stronga dvocate of human rights and inter-faith harmony.
