Daily Times

In a first-ever United Nations report on rights’ abuses in Kashmir, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Thursday called for a major investigation into the state of human rights in the conflict-ridden state.

In a statement released by his office, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said he would urge the Human Rights Council, which opens a new session next week, “to consider establishing a Commission of Inquiry (COI) to conduct a comprehensive independent international investigation into allegations of human rights violations in Kashmir.”

A COI is one of the UN’s highest-level probes, generally reserved for major crises.

The UN report highlights ‘chronic impunity for violations’ in Indian-occupied Kashmir as well as flaws in governance structures in Pakistan-administered Azad Jammu and Kashmir including restrictions on fundamental rights and civil liberties.

The findings come after months of deadly clashes along the Line of Control.

The report said that Zeid had met with representatives of both governments following an upsurge of violence in July 2016, triggered by India’s killing of 22-year-rebel commander Burhan Wani.

Concerned by what the UN termed ‘large and unprecedented’ protests after Wani’s death, Zeid asked for ‘unconditional access’ to Kashmir, but neither government agreed, the press statement said, adding that his office then began remote monitoring of the region, ultimately producing a report covering alleged abuses between January 2016 and April of this year.

The report holds the Indian troops responsible for an estimated 145 unlawful killings, far surpassing the 20 people estimated to have been killed by militant groups during that period.

“It is essential that the Indian authorities take immediate and effective steps to avoid a repetition of the numerous examples of excessive use of force by security forces in Kashmir,” Zeid was quoted as saying.

The report mentions pellet-firing shotguns as ‘one of the most dangerous weapons used against protesters in 2016’. “Impunity for human rights violations and lack of access to justice are key human rights challenges in the state of Jammu and Kashmir,” the report says, noting that the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act 1990 (AFSPA) and the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act 1978 (PSA) have ‘created structures that obstruct the normal course of law, impede accountability and jeopardize the right to remedy for victims of human rights violations’.

Turning to the AJK region, the report identifies ‘a range of human rights abuses’, but notes that they ‘are of a different calibre or magnitude and of a more structural nature’.

The statement mentions that restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly in AJK have made it difficult to obtain information about conditions in the area.

Pakistan has been urged to ‘end the misuse of anti-terror legislation to persecute those engaging in peaceful political and civil activities and those who express dissent’.

Kashmir has been a bone of contention between the two nuclear-armed states ever since the end of British rule in Sub-continent. Both Pakistan and India lay claims to the region, and a UN-mandated plebiscite to decide the fate of Kashmir has yet to take place. Contrary to UN provisions, India has retained a huge deployment of security forces in the region that has seen several insurgencies against Indian control.

Published in Daily Times, June 15^th 2018.