Seminar on Kashmir: Indian rights abuses in held Kashmir slammed

ISLAMABAD: The speakers addressing seminar on Kashmir denounced the large-scale human rights abuses being unleashed by Indian occupation forces in the area on a daily basis. They reminded that it is possible to occupy physically and illegally their territory but not to occupy their hearts and minds. Speakers paid rich tributes to the brave people of Indian Held Kashmir (IHK) who have resisted occupation for over 70 years and fighting against the subjugation fearlessly.

The event, titled “Remember The Invasion of Kashmir: How Youth Can Help End War”, was held by International Kashmir Lobby Group, Youth Forum for Kashmir (YFK) here in a local hotel on Tuesday.

Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari said that India is taking benefits out of Pakistan’s weak diplomacy on Kashmir. India is denying international investigative teams and media to visit Indian occupied Kashmir that’s why the human rights violations come into knowledge of the world lately.

Talking about UN Kashmir Report 2018, she said the report is good but UN should have done this before. Before releasing the report, UN asked Pakistan to let their team visit Azad Jammu & Kashmir but Pakistan denied if India allows UN, we will also allow. Pakistan should not adopt the policy of India regarding Kashmir; it was a big mistake not to allow UN team.

She presented her five-points suggestions towards the conflict resolution of Kashmir and suggested that we should also demand the international investigation in Kashmir as the UN report does. We need to draw attention of the international community on world’s legal and other forums about the human rights abuses of India. We should approach international NGOs working on women in conflict. The UN Report is fresh now, we should continue emphasising on its implementation. Pakistan should keep reiterating the UN resolutions on Kashmir because the resolutions on East Timor were same as Kashmir. We should demand UN to restore operations of UNMOGIP in IHK as they are working in Azad Jammu & Kashmir as observers. Pakistan’s legitimacy in Kashmir conflict is based on UN resolutions, so we should not deviate from the UN resolutions.

Pakistan’s spokesperson on Foreign Affairs Dr. Mohammad Faisal maintained that Pakistan wants good relations with India as Prime Minister Imran Khan insured that if India will come forward one step, we will come two steps forward. Khan has written a letter to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to talk about bilateral relations, peace, and the conflict resolution of Jammu & Kashmir. He said that we are opening Kartarpura Corridor that will allow Indian Sikhs to visit their holy places in Pakistan without Visa. Pakistan-India relations are not that simple, we have wars in the past but the diplomacy is changed in 21st century, diplomacy is now a name of public perception. He said that Foreign Office is working on Kashmir inside and outside Pakistan through conferences, demonstrations, photo exhibitions, publications and social media. He said UN report on Kashmir was very important and comprehensive; we are saying the same for last 70 years. The recent UK report on Kashmir is also the same. We welcome all international investigative teams to visit Kashmir. We always welcome Indian media to come to Pakistan even in the days when Kulbhushan Jadhav’s wife and mother visited Pakistan.