Masood Khan stresses need for impartial investigation of HR violations in IOK

Islamabad: (Parliament Times) President Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Masood Khan has said that in the light of the recent report of the UN Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights which provides solid evidence of gross and consistent human right violations including killings, torture and sexual violence, the international community must no longer be a silent spectator and hold India accountable for the atrocities taking place in Indian Occupied Kashmir.
The President made these remarks during a meeting with Sardar Taimoor Aziz, a leading social activist and General Secretary of Kashmir Committee Sweden, who called on Sardar Masood Khan here at Jammu and Kashmir House today.
President Masood Khan, in his recent visit to Sweden, had a brief encounter with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and met the Chairman of the Swedish Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, Serkan Kose, and the Committee’s members. During his meetings, he had fully briefed them about the horrendous human rights situation in the IOK; and appealed to the international community to come to the rescue of the Kashmiris.
The President has reiterated his invitation to the Swedish Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights to visit AJK and see for themselves the steps being taken in Azad Kashmir for ensuring the protection and promotion of human rights and human dignity.
President Masood Khan welcomed the OHCHR proposal to constitute and dispatch a commission of inquiry to gather and ascertain the factual position in IOK. He said that India has been consistently denying access to not only to the Office of High Commissioner but also to the Western parliamentarians and civil society organizations. “This is a major concern in the western countries”, he said.
The President underlined that “India must not be allowed to block such an investigation and frustrate a process for fact-finding suggested by the UN High Commissioner on human rights”.
Sardar Taimoor apprised the President of the activities of the Pakistan-Kashmiri diaspora in Sweden to raise the profile of the Kashmir issue. He informed that the Pakistani-Kashmiri diaspora community is one the most educated expatriate communities and is actively engaging Swedish parliamentarians and civil society representatives over the Kashmir dispute. He said that Sweden is actively addressing human rights issues all over the world and hopes that peace in South Asia is attained through the sustainable and amicable resolution of the Kashmir dispute.
The President praised the active role of the diaspora community in Sweden who he said are playing a pivotal role in sensitizing the Swedish people on Kashmir and working tirelessly in promoting and strengthening the relationship between Pakistan and Sweden.