ISLAMABAD, Mar 01 (APP):Federal Minister for Human Rights Human Rights Dr. Shrieen M Mazari has said that Pakistan was gravely concerned over the deteriorating human rights situation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), which constituted willful non-compliance by India of the UN Charter and 4th Geneva Convention.
Addressing the 49th session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council Monday, she said women in “Palestine and Kashmir “continued to be victim of brutal occupations yet the occupiers were exempt from global scrutiny.
The global state of human rights, she added, today presented a sobering picture, despite treaties, mechanisms and advocacy, for decades powerful states had suppressed human rights and trampled fundamental freedoms.
The minister said the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) government was pursuing a Hindutva policy under which some 800,000 troops were resorting to inhumane atrocities to suppress the independence movement in the IIOJK.
The Indian army, she added, was using rape as a weapon of war as it enjoyed all kids of immunity for atrocities in the IIOJK. Despite clear evidence, no action was taken against any Indian soldier.
The Indian government was not giving access to international media and neutral observers to the IIOJK, she regretted.
The minister said the Council should compel India to withdraw its unilateral move of August 5, 2019 (of changing the status of IIOJK). An independent commission of inquiry should be formed into human rights violations in Kashmir and a fresh report on human rights violations in Kashmir should be published.
Mazari said there were concerns over human rights violations in the IIOJK, where the occupying forces were changing the proportion of its population. India had issued domicile to 4 million non-Kashmiris.
Such steps by India were an attempt to turn Kashmiris into a minority on their soil, she added. The BJP government was pursuing a policy of genocide of Kashmiris, the minister said.
She said state-sponsored Islamophobia persisted across the world, with extremist ideologies on the rise. Structural flaws in global economic governance continued to hinder the basic human rights.
The Council must redouble its efforts to respond meaningfully to all such challenges, she demanded.
Dr Mazari said the Pakistani Government had implemented a zero tolerance policy on violence and exploitation as legislation on anti-corruption and anti-rape lawsuits had been done.
She said the first National Action Plan was launched on Human Rights in Business. Steps had been taken to provide free health care to the citizens to make Pakistan a welfare state, she added.
