Altaf Hamid Rao.
MIRPUR (AJK), (Parliament Times) : Human rights experts and activists, speaking at a sideline seminar during the 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council, called for urgent international action to address widespread human rights violations in conflict zones, particularly in Indian illigally occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Gaza, it was officially said.
Organized by the World Muslim Congress (MMC) and the Kashmir Institute of International Relations, the seminar underscored the legal and moral obligation of states to uphold human rights even during armed conflicts, as outlined in multiple international laws and human rights treaties, organisers said in a press release reaching and released to the media here.
Speakers referred to several binding frameworks, including the Geneva Conventions, International Humanitarian Law (IHL), and International Human Rights Law (IHRL), which require all parties to a conflict to protect civilians and ensure respect for fundamental rights.
They also cited the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), emphasizing that these laws prohibit torture, arbitrary detention, and extrajudicial killings—regardless of circumstances.
Focusing on Kashmir, participants condemned what they described as India’s systematic violations of these international obligations. They highlighted reports of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, house demolitions, and suppression of civil liberties, enabled by laws such as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Public Safety Act (PSA), and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), which they said grant impunity to security forces and silence dissent.
The abrogation of Article 370, they noted, has further exacerbated repression, resulting in economic hardship, illegal confiscation of civilian properties, dismissal of government employees and a deteriorating human rights situation. They criticized the Indian judiciary’s failure to deliver justice, leaving victims without viable legal remedies.
Calling on the UN Human Rights Council to hold India accountable, the speakers stressed that international law must not be selectively applied.
Pointing to the Pahalgam incident, the speakers said, had brought the two nuclear-armed neighbors, India and Pakistan, dangerously close to war. The incident, they argued, underscored the urgent need for a peaceful and just resolution to the Kashmir dispute, warning that continued neglect could destabilize regional and global peace.
They urged a just and peaceful resolution to the Kashmir conflict and demanded immediate international intervention to end the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, citing violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which protects civilians in occupied territories.
Of those who addressed the event included, Dr. Prof. Joseph Wronka representative to the UN in New York for IASSW, human rights activist Ms Mary Scully, international law expert Barrister TAnvir Hashem Munim, wirter and human rights activist Dr. Blerim Mustafa, IMWU representative Ms Shamim Shawl. Whereas the event was moderated by Altaf Hussain Wani the Chairman Kashmir Institute of International Relations and permanent representative to the WMC .