Photo exhibition on Indian violations in Kashmir opens in Geneva

ISLAMABAD: A unique photo exhibition has been kicked off in Geneva where the UN headquarters is situated. The launching has been undertaken for the sake of highlighting story of conflict in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK). The photographs of renowned international photojournalists operating in Indian-occupied Kashmir have been put on display in the exhibition. It has been inaugurated by Kashmir Delegation to United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Geneva. It’s part of Project Kashmir Pictures’ and authenticate photographic evidence on the conflict have been included in the historic show.

The students of war and conflict from the University of Geneva and human rights activists from various conflict zones took keen interest in the exhibit.

Altaf Hussein Wani, leader of the Kashmir Delegation to 39th session of UNHRC, opened the exhibit at Geneva Press Club. The idea behind the exhibit attracted wide attention: the collection of dated, captioned and verified pictures taken by photojournalists working for international news organisations in Kashmir. “The Project is a response to Indian government’s claims that pictures of violations in Kashmir are fake and come from other conflicts, like Syria and Libya, and do not represent what the Indian army is doing in Kashmir,” said Ahmed Quraishi, member of Kashmir Delegation and one of the organisers of the exhibit. “The Indian government made these claims in private meetings with international diplomats and representatives of human rights organisations. Our project seeks to cut through disinformation,” he added.

The idea is to ensure that every picture on Kashmir has a date, accurate description, name of the photojournalist and other persons in the photo, and the name of the news organisation that published it, said Quraishi, adding that around 1,000 such pictures have been identified and Kashmiri activists are seeking permission from news organisations to use these pictures non-commercially.

The Kashmir conflict is witnessing a historic moment this year. The United Nations broke half-century of silence on Kashmir in June 2018 when it released its first detailed report on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The report reaffirmed Kashmir’s right to self-determination and called for an international investigation particularly in areas under Indian control.

International Kashmir Lobby Group, Youth Forum for Kashmir is a non-partisan, international non-governmental organization, working for the peaceful resolution of Kashmir Conflict in accordance with United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions. It has arranged the exhibition that is irritating Indian diplomatic mission in the UN headquarters.