Qureshi urges EU to speak out for upholding fundamental rights in IoK

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi held a telephonic conversation with EU Special Representative for Human Rights Eamon Gilmore and discussed the growing scale and gravity of the human rights violations in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir for the past five weeks.

The foreign minister noted that India’s illegal and unilateral actions not only contravened international law, they had caused human suffering, shrunk democratic space and clamped down on fundamental rights and freedoms, said a Foreign Office statement issued Friday night.

The foreign minister called for immediate and complete lifting of the curfew, removal of restrictions on movement, peaceful assembly, provision of food and medical supplies and release of political prisoners.

He urged the European Union to speak out in support of upholding human dignity, democratic and civil rights, and the imperative for India to comply with its obligations under international human rights and international humanitarian law.

The special representative stated that he was cognizant of human rights situation and that the European Union would remain seized of the matter.