Geneva: Kashmiri delegation on Wednesday staged a strong protest in front of the UN office against systematic violations of human rights committed by Indian forces in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The protest, which was organised to commemorate the international day in support of victims of torture, inhumane and degrading treatment, was attended and addressed by head of the Kashmiri delegation Altaf Hussain Wani, Sardar Amjad Yousaf the executive director , APHC general secretary adv. Parveez Ahmed Shah, Shamim Shawal, Dr. Waleed Rasool, Ms. Gazala Habib, Ms Haiqa and others.
Highlighting the plight of torture victims and their families, the speakers said that thousands of innocent Kashmiris including men and women have been subjected to third degree torture in prisons, interrogation and detention centers.
The Indian government, they said, has remorselessly been using torture as ‘instrument of control’ to suppress Kashmiris’ legitimate struggle for right to self determination.
Referring to the structures of violence stretched all across the Kashmir valley and beyond in the form of military camps, they said that these military camps were virtually turned into torture centers where innocent Kashmiris were brought and beaten, given electric shocks, forced to eat dirt or drink filthy water.
Terming systematic abuse by the Indian armed forces as a grave existential threat to local population, they said brutal and inhuman torture techniques, employed by Indian troops, paramilitary forces and police personnel, have left thousands of Kashmiris disabled for life
This egregious reality of Kashmir, they said, has unfortunately escaped the attention of local and international observers.
Referring to the fast deteriorating political and human rights situation in occupied Kashmir, the speakers sought the UN Commission’s urgent intervention to help stop bloodshed and human rights violations in the troubled region.
The speakers appealed to United Nations to influence the government of India to pay reparations to victims and send a fact finding mission to Indian occupied territory to investigate the cases of torture and inhumane treatment. The urgent UN to call for immediate release of All political prisoners and activists.
Seeking the UN human rights councils urgent intervention to stop bloodshed and violence in the territory, the speakers appealed to the council to take tangible measures to hold the Indian government accountable for the crimes it’s forces have committed against Kashmiris.
Terming Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory, the speakers said that the UN should mount pressure on India to oblige its commitments vis-à-vis the improvement of the human rights situation in the UN-recognized disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir and repeal all draconian laws that the apartheid regime has been using to suppress political dissent and silence legitimate political voices in the region.
