Geneva: Kashmiri representatives have called upon the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to appoint Special Representative to assess the rights situation in occupied Kashmir.
While taking part in the ongoing 35th session of the UNHRC in Geneva, Syed Faiz Naqshbandi extended support to the initiative of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights of sending a UN team to occupied Kashmir to take stock of the human right situation in the territory.
“The systematic human right violations are taking place in Indian occupied Kashmir. Pellets and bullets are being fired indiscriminately on peaceful protestors by Indian forces. Medical reports show that pellets and bullets have been fired by Indian troops above the abdomen. All this is happening in a systematic manner, as the forces enjoy impunity under black laws Armed Forces Special Powers Act and Public Safety Act,†he said.
Syed Faiz Naqshbandi further said that human rights abuses had touched extreme height as Indian forces stationed in occupied Kashmir used civilians as human shield. On April 9, a Kashmiri youth namely Farooq Ahmad Dar was tied to the bumper of an Indian military jeep as a human shield, he added. He deplored that the culprit military officer Major Leetul Gogoi was awarded commendation card by the Indian Army Chief.
He told the UNHRC that India had banned 22 social media applications and internet services in the territory. “This is all to hide the Indian atrocities,†he said and asked the Council that how long it would take the UN mechanism to intervene to stop the loss of lives in occupied Kashmir.
The Kashmiri woman representative, Shamim Shawl, addressing the UNHRC session said that Indian forces had suspended all fundamental freedoms and human rights in occupied Kashmir. “The UN General Assembly’s Resolution of 17th December 1979 provides the guidance on the Code of Conduct in all the conflict zones,†she said, adding that the use of pellets to blind and kill people was a grass violation of international law. “The use of lethal pellet guns has created an atmosphere of threat and fear among young Kashmiri generation,’ she informed the UN body.
Shamim Shawl said that the arrest of thousands of students under draconian law, Public Safety Act, was a deliberate attempt to stop them from continuing their education. Kashmir has been turned into a graveyard, she added.
The killing of 12th class student Aadil Farooq Magray in the firing of Indian troops on peaceful protesters in Shopian was also raised on the occasion.
