KIIR chief hails UN SR for raising concerns over HR situation in IoK

Islamabad: Chairman Institute of Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR) Mr. Altaf Hussain Wani has appreciated the United Nations Special Rappoteur on Human Rights for raising grave concerns over widespread human rights violations in the occupied Kashmir, especially the closure of the State Human Rights Commission by the government of India.

In a statement issued here on Sunday the KIIR chief while terming it as a healthy development said, “The UN SR’s letter to the government of India vindicates our stand on the rights violations, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearance and abuse of rights by the Indian state”. He said that the letter should serve as an-eye opener for those who have chosen to stay silent on the simmering situation in the held territory especially after the events of 5th August 2019.

Referring to the SR’s reservations over the sudden closure of the State Human Rights Commission by the government of India (GoI) Mr. Wani said that the closure of the SHRC reflects that the GoI was not serious in tracing thousands of disappeared persons whose family members still continue to wander from pillar to post to know the whereabouts of their loved ones. He said that more than 7000 bodies of missing persons still lay buried in unmarked and unknown mass graves unearthed in and around the Kashmir valley.

He said that a special investigation team constituted on the special directives of the SHRC after conducting an inquiry in 2009 confirmed the presence of 2,730 unidentified bodies buried across 37 sites in the three districts of north Kashmir. He said that the closure of SHRC was tantamount to closing the doors of justice for people whose rights were being trampled down under the jackboots.

Meanwhile, the KIIR chairman also appreciated HRW for expressing concern over the use of pellet guns in Kashmir. Wani said that the human rights watchdogs have always voiced their strong reservations over use of firearms and live ammunition insisting that such kind of lethal weapons must never be used simply to disperse an assembly.

Hailing the fast growing realization among the international community over the human rights situation in Kashmir he expressed the hope that the well-wishers of humanity around the globe will work together and devote themselves for the good of suffering humanity in the occupied Kashmir.