Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Upper House was informed on Thursday that Pakistan had decided to approach the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to investigate human rights violations and the recent wave of violence against civilians in India-held Kashmir (IHK) by Indian forces.

“We have requested the UNHRC to send a fact-finding mission to India-held Kashmir and probe the recent killings of innocent Kashmiris,” Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz told the Senate while giving a policy statement over an adjournment motion moved by opposition and ruling senators.

The adviser urged the international community to take notice of the situation in Kashmir and extend its support to the Kashmiri people.

He said that shelling innocent Kashmiri protesters was not acceptable under any circumstances, as its “amounts to violation of fundamental human rights”. The largest street protests in recent years erupted in Held Kashmir after Indian troops killed Burhan Wani on July 8. During the recent protests, clashes between the Indian forces and Kashmiris left at least 48 people, mostly teenagers and young men, dead and more than 200 others critically wounded.

Sartaj Aziz said that spontaneous uprising in IHK depicted the very indigenous nature of the freedom movement. He rejected Indian allegations that Pakistan was stirring trouble in the valley. He also rejected Indian assertion that the situation in the valley was an internal matter of India, describing it as totally legally untenable and violation of the UN Security Council resolutions.

The adviser said Pakistan strongly condemns the brutal use of force by Indian troops in IHK, saying the Indian authorities could not suppress the freedom movement through such tactics. He said that plausible resolution of the dispute “lies in the granting of right to self-determination to the people of Kashmir”.

He said the international community, including the UN Secretary General, OIC, China, the Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have also voiced their concerns over Indian atrocities on the Kashmiri people. He said Pakistan would continue to provide moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiris in their just struggle for the right to self-determination. He said Pakistan would undertake all possible efforts to inform the world about Indian atrocities.