Pakistan has asked the UN Human Rights Council to consider the Kashmir situation on its human rights merits, and not be influenced by geo-political calculations and bilateral economic interests vis-à-vis India.
In a detailed address, Human Rights Minister Dr Shireen Mazari told the UN council during it 46th session that it should think about forming an independent inquiry commission to investigate human rights violations in Kashmir.
Dr Mazari gave a long list of the violations of human rights by India in Kashmir.
She called on the world to shun double standards based on political considerations.
Appeasement or inaction are no options, Dr Mazari said.
Mazari asked High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to continue with the Kashmir reporting process in exercise of her monitoring and prevention mandate.
"Let us not repeat mistakes of the past but rather demonstrate the courage to stand firmly on the right side of the history," Mazari said.
She said the global human rights landscape presents a bleak picture.
"Some of the leading advocates continue to prioritise political, strategic and commercial interests over human rights values and principles. Even public calls for accountability of some of the powerful and ‘friendly’ states are conspicuously absent," the human rights minister said.
She highlighted issues of state-sponsored hatred, Islamophobia and dehumanisation of the suppressed, saying that all three are on the rise – often in the guise of “freedom of expression” or “secularism”.
As the world battles the COVID pandemic, Mazari said, India has used the virus to supplement its tools of repression.
She said India has exploited the pandemic to accelerate the pace of its colonisation project in Kashmir.
Over three million non-Kashmiris have been illegally granted Kashmiri citizenship, allowed permanent settlement, purchase of properties and lands and apply for local jobs in the occupied territory, she highlighted.