Qureshi says Indian forces killing people of Kashmir with impunity

NEW YORK: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi addressed the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir on the sidelines of UN General Assembly session in New York.

During his speech, the foreign minister said that Indian forces are violating human rights in the occupied valley and have killed civilians with impunity.

Citing a United Nations Human Rights Commission report on Kashmir, Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that Indian forces are not only killing innocent Kashmiris but their actions go unchecked as they enjoy “criminal level of impunity” with India’s draconian laws.

He maintained that Pakistan not only condemns Indian government’s moves to suppress the freedom movement of Kashmiris but extends moral and diplomatic support to the people of the occupied valley.

Concluding his speech, the foreign minister called for setting up a commission of inquiry as recommended in UN report to investigate human rights violations in India-Occupied Kashmir

It is pertinent to note here that earlier in June this year, a United Nations Human Rights Commission report said that Indian security forces used excessive force that led to unlawful killings and a very high number of injuries in Kashmir.

Citing civil society estimates, the report said that up to 145 civilians were killed by the security forces between mid-July 2016 and the end of March 2018.

One of the most dangerous weapons used against protesters in 2016 – and which is still being employed by India security forces – was the pellet-firing shotgun.

According to official figures, 17 people were killed by shotgun pellets between July 2016 and August 2017, and 6,221 people were injured by the metal pellets between 2016 and March 2017. Civil society organizations believe that many of them have been partially or completely blinded.