Indian excesses in Kashmir imperil peace, says FO

Islamabad reiterates dialogue offer as UN chief proposes mediation

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday blamed Indian policies in Kashmir for jeopardising the prospect of durable peace in the disputed Himalayan territory which remained under curfew for the sixth consecutive day with the death toll rising to 38.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) demanded an immediate end to what it called the ongoing abrasive human rights violations and extrajudicial killings of Kashmiris in Indian-occupied Kashmir even as Pakistan exhorted the United Nations to implement its resolutions on the right to self-determination of Kashmiris.

“India has a track record of violating the fundamental human rights of Kashmiris including their right to life and self-determination,” Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria told a weekly news briefing in Islamabad on Thursday.

The spokesperson reiterated that Pakistan is always ready to resolve the longstanding dispute with India through dialogue. But, he stated, India is shying away from the dialogue process.

“It is for the international community to urge India to resolve issues through dialogue,” Zakaria said as tensions continued to grip Indian-occupied Kashmir nearly a week after prominent Kashmiri separatist leader Burhan Wani of the Hizbul Mujahideen was killed in an apparent police encounter.

That sparked protests throughout the valley. Indian forces clamped a curfew in response, blocked telecommunications and deployed troops in force. Subsequent clashes between protesters and Indian forces have already claimed the lives of 38 people and injured over 1,400.

India is adamant that Pakistan has no locus standi in Kashmir and hence sees its condemnation and call for seeking international community’s help to stop the violence as interference in its internal matters.

Pakistan, however, reminded India that Kashmir remains a universally recognised disputed territory under the UNSC resolutions outstanding for almost seven decades.

“Calling it an internal matter by India is a violation of the UN Security Council’s resolutions,” the spokesperson reiterated.



He also said the current situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir and the indigenous movement for self-determination, which has been going on for a long time, was a manifestation of what Kashmiris want.

“It is evident that nothing can deter the Kashmiris’ resolve to continue their struggle. Indian efforts to project the Kashmiri movement as terrorism through baseless accusations cannot succeed. The international community recognises the Kashmiris’ movement for self-determination,” he said adding that Kashmiris want to exercise their right to self-determination, and for the UN Security Council to implement its resolutions on the dispute.

He asserted that it was the Indian security forces who were indulging in state terrorism in the valley.

“They are terrorising the population. It is condemnable that they are even attacking the ambulances and hospitals to deny treatment to the Kashmiris on whom they have unleashed the terror attacks.”

The spokesperson also welcomed UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s offer of making available the world body to mediate between Pakistan and India on the Kashmir dispute.

Meanwhile, the federal cabinet is expected to meet today to discuss the situation in Kashmir.

Violence in Kashmir raised at General Assembly

Pakistan on Thursday raised the ongoing violence in Kashmir at a high-level thematic debate of the 193-member UN General Assembly on human rights.

“The denial of self-determination to the people of Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir has resulted in some of the most atrocious human rights violations including rape, torture, arbitrary detentions and summary executions,” Lodhi said.

She pointed to Wani’s killing along with that of dozens of other civilians as the “most recent chilling example of extra-judicial killings” in the disputed valley.

“The occupation forces in Indian-held Jammu and Kashmir are resorting to these brutal acts to suppress the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people, promised to them by several UN Security Council resolutions.”

She added that only when the UN fulfils its pledge of conducting a plebiscite in the valley will the dispute be resolved.

OIC condemns violence

Meanwhile, the OIC’s Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) expressed serious concern over the recent incidents of human rights violations in the Indian-Occupied Kashmir by the Indian military and paramilitary forces and called for an independent, fair and transparent inquiry.

“People have been denied access to basic emergency services and right to health. There have been incidents of violence, harassment, shelling of teargas in hospitals, to prevent access to hospitals and restrict the movement of ambulances,” a foreign office statement said.

India hits back

India and Pakistani envoys at the UN traded hot words on Thursday with the former accusing the latter of extolling the ‘virtues’ of terrorists and for using terrorism as a state policy towards the “misguided end” of coveting the territory of others.

Syed Akbaruddin, India’s ambassador to the UN, alleged that Pakistan was trying to “misuse” the UN platform, Hindustan Times reported. He asserted that Pakistan’s “track record” failed to convince the international community that it should gain membership of the Human Rights Council in this very session of the UNGA.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15^th, 2016.