Daily Times

For a second consecutive year, the United Nations report on the situation in India-held Kashmir has been calling for the setting up a Commission of Inquiry for a thorough probe into human rights abuses being perpetrated by Indian occupation troops in the valley. The damning reports by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR) are enough to awake the world powers on the endless violence wreaked upon the Kashmiris, by the Indian army, seeking their right to self-determination under the decades-old UN resolutions. The second report, launched on the third martyrdom anniversary of Kashmiri fighter Burhan Wani, was greeted by the Kashmiris, in India-held Kashmir, with a complete strike.

Will these reports stir any action in the world quarters? The fresh UNOHCHR report, which consists of the incidents of human rights violations in held Kashmir between May 2018 and April 2019, narrates the spike in the bloodshed with strident criticism, saying that the Feb 14 attack on Indian paramilitary forces in Pulwama unleashed a floodgate of civilian causalities and the situation impacted the rights of the Kashmiris, including the right to life. The Pulwama incident also led to tensions between India and Pakistan and both countries were on the verge of a full-fledged war. The first report issued in June 2018 highlights serious human rights violations, unwarranted use of force by Indian forces leading to civilian casualties, subjective detention, impunity for human rights violations and human rights abuses in occupied Kashmir.

India, which claims to be world’s biggest democracy, maintains a creepy silence on abuses in held Kashmir. Even those segments in India, which try to provoke the conscience of the power corridors, on the endless mistreatment of Kashmiris, are dubbed traitors and anti-state elements. They call for the accountability of the India troops and probes into the reported violations. India also keeps mum on the recommendations by the UNOHCHR reports which calls for taking the troops engaging rights violations to the task, and called for the initiation investigation into excessive use of force leading to casualties. It says: “No security forces personnel accused of torture or other forms of degrading and inhuman treatment have been prosecuted in a civilian court since these allegations started emerging in the early 1990s.”

It is high time that India be forced to answer the international concerns and it should be brought to the dock for its unchecked usage of violence, especially pellet guns, against unarmed Kashmiris. The world pressure can end the regime of physical intimidation and assault, invasion of privacy, arbitrary and unlawful detention, collective punishment and destruction of private property.  *