Qureshi urges UN to take notice of worsening human rights situation in IoK, India

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has urged the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to take notice of the worsening human rights situation in occupied Kashmir in particular and in India as a whole following the Pulwama incident.
Qureshi, through a letter, addressed to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, drew attention of the world body towards worsening human rights situation in the IoK in particular and in India as a whole which is now turning from bad to worse.
In his letter, Qureshi stated that the attack in Pulwama on Indian paramilitary personnel on February 14, 2019 needs to be seen in an objective manner, adding that Indian government chose to immediately externalise blame for this attack, without investigations, which fits a known policy approach.
Such an approach is clearly manifested in its attempts to: (a) divert global attention from the continuing grave human rights and international humanitarian law violations in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and, (b) brand those seeking to safeguard their legitimate political and human rights including the right to self-determination as "terrorists."
"I wish to underscore that Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognised disputed territory, which India continues to occupy in violation of international law. The issue of Jammu and Kashmir remains an outstanding item on the agenda of the UN Security Council. India continues to demonstrate its non-compliance with several Security Council resolutions on this subject," he stated.
The troubling situation in Jammu and Kashmir also warrants attention from the international humanitarian law perspective, especially the four Geneva Conventions, he said.
Given the active nature of armed conflict in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, he said it is imperative to impress upon India to faithfully adhere to its obligations under the Conventions to which it is a party.
By a conservative estimate, more than 100,000 Kashmiris have been died in their quest to achieve freedom from the Indian occupation, Qureshi said, adding that Kashmiris have been tortured, maimed or summarily executed by the Indian occupying forces. "There are known allegations of sexual violence against Kashmiri women. As a result, there is hardly any individual in the IOK who hasn't lost a loved one, a friend, or a close a relative since the Kashmiris launched their indigenous struggle in 1989," he further stated.
He pointed out that the widespread repression by more than 700,000 Indian security personnel deployed in the IOK has alienated Kashmiris, particularly the youth. The Pulwama attack, by India's own accounts, was carried out by a young Kashmiri who had been under Indian captivity, Qureshi pointed out, adding that the causes of extreme discontentment and resulting violence are not hard to find.
In the aftermath of Pulwama tragedy, he said the human rights situation in IOK in particular and in India as whole is now turning from bad to worse. As if the use of pellet guns against Kashmiri protestors, the outright refusal by India to initiate political dialogue with the Kashmiris and Pakistan, ongoing "shoot to kill" orders against Kashmiris, were not enough, there is now a concerted campaign to whip up hatred and violence against Kashmiris and discrimination against them across India, he further wrote.
He asserted that the Indian government is leveraging this tragedy for electoral gains in the forthcoming general elections, and in that process, it is constricting space for a political dialogue and negotiations with both the Kashmiris and Pakistan. "Even more worryingly, the Indian government has chosen to remain silent in the wake of most appalling acts of violence against Kashmiris, perpetrated by extremist elements," he added.
"Pakistan welcomes the call made earlier this week on India by the European Parliament's Sub-Committee on Human Rights to end its atrocities in the occupied Kashmir. These growing voices of concern against the well-entrenched India regime of human rights violations are consistent with the reports of your office last June as well as that of the All Parties Parliamentary Group of the UK in 2018," Qureshi said.
He also welcomed the concerns expressed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on February 19 on the use of Pulwama attack by such elements as justification for threats and violence against Kashmiris and Muslims in various parts of India. "While we fully share these concerns, we would request you to continue monitoring the situation and call for protecting people from all forms of harm on account of their identity and ethnicity," the foreign minister stated.
He also urged the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to issue a call on India to allow unhindered access to UN mechanisms and to him to IOK. "India must also be obliged to comply with its international humanitarian law obligations with respect to IoK," he concluded.