UN chief asked to set up inquiry commission on HR abuses in held Kashmir

SRINAGAR: The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) of occupied Kashmir, in a letter to the UN secretary general, has urged Antonio Guterres to constitute a commission of inquiry to conduct comprehensive and independent international investigation into human rights violations by Indian troops in the territory.

The JRL comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik in a statement issued in Srinagar asked the UN secretary general to impress upon New Delhi to stop the gross human rights violation forthwith.

The JRL, as per the letter, also urged him to initiate measures for the resolution of the dispute which is on the UN Agenda since 1948, and is the main cause of all Human Rights violations in occupied Kashmir.

The letter read, “We greatly acknowledge The UN report on the human rights situation in Kashmir – detailing the human rights violations and abuses and highlights a situation of chronic impunity for violations committed by Indian forces.”

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In the letter, the Joint Resistance Leadership acknowledged UN’s concern and called for an urgent need to address the past and ongoing human rights violations and abuses and deliver justice for all people in Kashmir, who for seven decades have suffered a conflict that has claimed or ruined numerous lives.”

To focus international attention on the continued and worsening Human Rights situation people of Kashmir decided to peacefully observe December 3 to 9 as Human Rights Week, the leadership informed the UN chief in the letter.

Referring to the 2018 UN report on rights abuses in Kashmir, the leadership said, “One of the most dangerous weapons used against protesters in 2016 – and which is still being employed by Indian forces – is the pellet-firing shotgun.”

“These fire pellets since then have affected 16, 000 people in Kashmir and blinded hundreds permanently, the youngest being 18-month-old Hiba who has lost her vision in one eye. Hundreds have suffered serious damage in liver and intestinal region due to pellets. 14% of pellet gun victims in Kashmir are below 15,” read the letter.

The leadership wrote that the conflict has consumed hundreds of thousand lives in Jammu and Kashmir. “As we write to you, yesterday on December 09, 2018, two teenagers Mudasir Ahmed Parrey and Saqib Bilal Sheikh – aged 14 and 17 respectively – from Hajin area of Bandipora district, were killed, seven houses blown up with mortar shells or improvised explosive device (IED).”

The letter concluded with, “Sir, the conflict on Kashmir is not a frozen one but continues to consume human lives unabatedly since its beginning in 1947 and has become the cause of horrendous human rights violations against the population of the area.

“We urge you to urgently establish as proposed by the OHCHR a UN commission of inquiry to conduct comprehensive and independent international investigation into allegations of human rights violations in Kashmir,…. to end the cycles of violence and ensure accountability for past and current violations and abuses, and provide redress for victims and to press upon New Delhi to stop the gross human rights violations forthwith. We also urge you to initiate measures for the resolution of the dispute on Jammu & Kashmir which is on UN Agenda since 1948 and is the main cause of all human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir,” it read.

Indian troops martyr 95,238 since Jan 1989

In occupied Kashmir, Indian troops, in their unabated acts of state terrorism, martyred 95,238 innocent Kashmiris, including 7,120 in custody, since January 1989 till date.

A report released by the research section of Kashmir Media Service on the occasion of the World Human Rights Day revealed that these killings rendered 22,894 women widowed and 107,551 children orphaned. The troops molested or disgraced 11,107 women and damaged 109,191 residential houses and other structures. At least, 8,000 people were subjected to custodial disappearance.

The report pointed out that during this year alone, Indian forces martyred 350 Kashmiris including PhD scholars, an engineering student, teenagers and Hurriyet leaders and activists. The forces arrested 2,348 people including minor boys and women. The report maintained that the puppet authorities kept Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai and other Hurriyat leaders under detention time and again and did not allow them to even carry out their religious activities.

The report said that since the extrajudicial killing of popular youth leader, Burhan Wani, on July 8, 2016, over 846 have been killed and more than 25,909 injured in the firing of bullets, pellets and teargas shells by troops on protesters. The eyesight of more than 3,000 youth has been either completely or partially damaged.