ISLAMABAD, Sep 14 (APP):Prominent rights activist Sardar Amjad Yousaf Khan has urged the UN Human Rights Council to redouble its efforts to stop the bloodshed of innocent civilians in Kashmir by the Indian occupation forces.
Speaking on behalf of International Action for Peace and Sustainable Development, Khan, while taking part in a general debate held under Item 2 at the 54th session of the Human Rights Council, said that people in Jammu & Kashmir were waiting for the third report by the high commissioner, according to a press release issued here on Thursday.
Referring to the highly critical situation in the Indian-occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir (IoK), Khan said that the disputed territory continued to reel under India’s relentless repression and brutality.
He said that people in Indian-occupied Jammu & Kashmir were being subjected to all forms of human rights violations.
“The Indian occupation forces not only kill innocent civilians in the area under their control but also across the line of control “, Sardar Amjad Yousuf said, adding that the Indian forces deployed on the LoC use snipers to target the civilian population along the ceasefire line and kill innocent people.
Seeking the UN High Commissioner’s attention towards the ceasefire violations and target killing of civilians by the Indian forces on the LoC, Khan said that on June 24, this year, the Indian forces resorted to unprovoked firing and martyred two innocent civilians by sniper shooting across Loc from Indian occupied Kashmir.
He said that one more civilian was martyred by the Indian forces last month in the Nakyal area of Azad Kashmir.
Voicing his dismay over the Indian government’s perpetual denial to act upon the commission’s recommendations, Khan said that the commission in its previous two reports had asked India to respect the right to self-determination of the people of Jammu & Kashmir, but notwithstanding the recommendations, the Indian government was making significant demographic changes to convert Muslim-majority state into a minority.
He said that the basic rights of the people of occupied Kashmir, including their right to life and freedom of expression, remain severely curtailed.
Highlighting the plight of Kashmiri prisoners languishing in Indian jails, he said that the right to a fair trial was being denied to the prisoners.
He said that political leader Muhammad Yasin Malik and human rights activist Khurram Pervez were arrested and trilled on fake allegations.
