KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
APHC led by incarcerated Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Tuesday welcomed the statement by UN Human Rights commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein at the Human Rights council in Geneva’s annual session that precedes the UN general assembly and called it an “acknowledgment” by the human rights body of the “gross” human rights violations in J&K.
APHC-m spokesperson said the statement is very significant as “it puts India in the same bracket” as Syria, Ethiopia and Venezuela, calling them part of “an emerging pattern” of UN member states who deny the UN body access.
Quoting the statement of the commission which reads, “Human rights violations will not disappear if a government blocks access to international observers and then invests in a public relations campaign to offset any unwanted publicity. On the contrary, efforts to duck or refuse legitimate scrutiny raise an obvious question: what, precisely, are you hiding from us?” the APHC-m spokesperson n said that the statement “is seen as the strongest criticism of countries accused of human rights violations in the last few years”.
With regard to the recent Uri incident, the spokesperson said, “every killing of humans is sad.A s we mourn the killing of our children and youth every day at the hands of forces on the orders of the state we can fully understand the pain of families and people who lost their dear ones. All this suffering for the entire people of subcontinent is the consequence of the unresolved Kashmir dispute. So much bloodshed and killings so much suffering of Kashmiris, so many wars fought between the neighbours, so much resource in both countries where a majority lives below poverty diverted to military upkeep, so much hatred and animosity generated. And now the war hysteria created by bellicose TV anchors and hysterical panellists once again which will only lead to further killing of thousands of people and soldiers on all sides.”
“If only the Kashmir dispute is settled once and for all imagine the huge dividends of peace, stability and progress for the entire region. Can we not think this way? Aggressive posturing, arrogance, hyper nationalism, high decibel rhetoric, prejudice. Where do such attitudes take nations? They are only precursors of disaster for the people of that nation in the long run. We ask GOI that while it has used all its military might , brute force , worst forms of oppression suppression against the people of Kashmir has that been able to break the people’s will and resolve in any way? In fact it has made people more determined .so why not shun obduracy accept there is a problem and sincerely work towards its resolution and gift the region real peace. As India aspires to be a global respected leader a just and human approach to the Kashmir problem is the most assured way for it to become so,” the spokesperson added.
