–Foreign minister says Indian repression in Kashmir provoking local youth to carry out violent attacks
ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has written a letter to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet Jeria on the increasing human rights violations in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOK) and other pertinent issues in which he asserted that India is exploiting the Pulwama tragedy for its electoral gains.
In his letter, he said: “I am writing to follow up on my letter dated December 16, 2018, regarding the deteriorating human rights situation in the IOK.”
He urged upon the need to view the Pulwama attack of February 14 “in an objective manner” as the “Indian government chose to immediately externalise the blame for this attack, without [any] investigation [which] fits a known policy approach.”
“Such an approach is clearly manifest in its attempts to divert global attention from the continuing grave human rights and international humanitarian law violations in IOK and branding those seeking to safeguard their legitimate political and human rights including the right to self-determination ‘terrorists’,” the foreign minister added.
Qureshi further wrote that IOK is an “internationally disputed territory” and India’s occupation of the land is in violation of international laws. The issue is an outstanding one on UN Security Council’s (UNSC) agenda, he added.
Moreover, he recalled the four Geneva conventions and asserted that they should view the “troubling situation” in the disputed territory. The nature of armed conflict in demands that it should be impressed upon India to faithfully adhere to its obligations under the conventions to which it is a party, he said.
Qureshi told the UN high commissioner that “there is hardly any individual in IOK who has not lost a loved one, a friend, or a relative since the Kashmiris launched their indigenous struggle in 1989.”
“More than 100,000 Kashmiris have died in their quest to achieve freedom from the Indian occupation. Kashmiris have been tortured, maimed or summarily executed by the Indian forces as well as allegations of sexual violence,” the letter noted.
The foreign minister asserted that Indian repression in the region has alienated the local youth which results in violent incidents like the recent Pulwama tragedy.
“The Pulwama attack, by India’s own accounts, was carried out by a young Kashmiri, who had been under Indian captivity,” he wrote.
The letter asserted that the human rights situation in IOK is worsening in the aftermath of the attack as “there is now a concerted campaign to whip up hatred and violence against Kashmiris and discrimination against them across India.”
It blames the Indian government for “leveraging this tragedy for electoral gains in the forthcoming general elections” and “constricting space for a political dialogue and negotiations with both the Kashmiris and Pakistan”. What’s more worrying is that India has chosen to remain silent in the wake of appalling acts of violence against Kashmiris by extremists, it adds.
Qureshi wrote that Pakistan welcomes the call made by European Parliament’s Sub-Committee on Human Rights on India to rectify the situation in Kashmir, which is consistent with the UN report last June as well as that of the All Parties Parliamentary Group of the UK in 2018.
Welcoming the concerns expressed by UN on February 19, the foreign minister requested UN “to continue monitoring of the situation and call for protection of people from all harm on account of their identity and ethnicity”.
He also urged the human rights watchdog to call on India to allow unhindered access to UN mechanisms to IOK as it must also be obliged to comply with its international humanitarian law obligations with respect to IoK.
MEETING WITH SAARC CHAIR:
In a separate development, FM Qureshi spoke with his Nepali counterpart Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, which also heads theSouth Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and discussed the evolving peace and security situation in the region.
During the meeting, FM said that SAARC is a forum established to bring the countries of the region together and therefore, Nepal as the chair can play a constructive role in this regard.
“Pakistan attaches great importance to its neighbours and South Asia and believes in lasting peace,” he added.
Nepali FM said that peace and the security of the region is a primary responsibility of all. Nepal as a member of SAARC and a friend of Pakistan firmly believes that peace is in the interest of everyone, he added.