Geneva: Kashmiri representatives, Shamim Shawl and Hassan Al-Banaa, have drawn the attention of the international community towards the gross human rights violations perpetrated by Indian police and troops in occupied Kashmir.
Shamim Shawl addressing the ongoing 35th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva informed the audience of the victimization of the Kashmiri youth by Indian forces to suppress the Kashmiris’ ongoing freedom movement.
She said, “With systematic conspiracy, the Kashmiri youth are blinded and physically crippled. They are arrested, booked under draconian Public Safety Act, and put behind the bars. They are denied their basic rights, the right to education and development. In such circumstances there is suffocation, chaos, confusion and war-like situation everywhere in Kashmir.â€
Shamim Shawl said that the 2017 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action in Article 10 stated, “The World Conference on Human Rights reaffirms the “right to developmentâ€, as established in the Declaration on the Right to Development, as a universal and inalienable right and an integral part of fundamental human rights – human rights are of greater importance than the economic and other rights.
“For a healthy nation, human resources and young skilled people are backbone of the society. The quality of education and investment in the human resources are essential demand for the future and individual development. This skilled and educated Kashmiri youth is unfortunately deprived of all the freedoms by Indian occupational forces. They are forcefully involved in the conflict than to their education. The Government of India has created such a political climate and uncertainty that is affecting their mental, emotional, social and physical health. The years of occupation have created fear psychosis and uncertainty in their mind,†she said.
Hassan Al-Banaa during a meeting with the UN Special Rapporteur on the freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, conveyed gratitude on behalf of the Kashmiri people to him for his recent statement regarding the human rights violations by Indian forces in occupied Kashmir. “Your timely statement regarding our bleeding Kashmir was like a breath of fresh air in the suffocated atmosphere of this internationally recognized disputed territory, for the oppressed and suppressed people living over there. So I would like to express deep gratitude to you on behalf of Kashmiri people,†Hassan Al-Banaa, according to a statement, told David Kaye.
He also apprised the Rapporteur about the continued military repression and unabated human rights abuses being perpetrated by Indian forces on Kashmiri civilians, the statement said. The attacks on students, both male and female, and their institutions as well as on media persons in occupied Kashmir also came under discussion, the statement added
