India should stop torture, use of pellet guns against children in IoK: UN chief

(Karachi) United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has voiced deep concern over continued use of pellet guns by Indian troops in occupied Jammu and Kashmir against children as well as their illegal detentions.

The UN chief urged India to stop torture and such practices against children in held valley.

In an annual report on Children and Armed Conflict, which was launched by UN Secretary General's Special Representative, Virginia Gamba Guterres said he is concerned by the detention of children, including their arrest during night raids, internment at army camps, torture in detention and detention without charge.

He said, "Most of the casualties that occurred in Jammu and Kashmir were mainly caused by torture in detention, shootings, including from pellet guns." The report particularly cites 68 instances where children between the ages of nine and 17 years have been detained by Indian security services in Jammu and Kashmir on national security-related charges, for alleged association with armed groups.

Diplomats have noted that the Secretary-General’s report has dented India’s false narrative of normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir, and expose its grave violations of international humanitarian law, war crimes and human rights violations in the disputed region.

On the other hand, the UN Chief welcomed and acknowledged in the same reports the Pakistani government’s efforts to protect the polio workers in the country.