Dr Shireen Mazari asks UNHRC to respect rights, freedom of everyone

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari has said as a guardian of universal human rights, the UN Human Rights Council must demand respect for rights and freedom of everyone including those under occupation and shun double standards based on political considerations.

Addressing the High Level Segment of 46th Human Rights Council session, Dr Mazari said that state sponsored hatred, Islamophobia and dehumanisation of the suppressed are on the rise – often in the guise of the “freedom of expression” or “secularism”. She said global human rights landscape is present bleak picture. She said, “India has exploited the pandemic to accelerate the pace of its colonisation project in occupied Jammu & Kashmir and to consolidate its illegal and unilateral actions of 5th August 2019.”

The minister said that India is deploying unprecedented demographic engineering, in violation of the 4th Geneva Convention, to convert the Muslim majority into a minority in the occupied region. She said that 8 million Kashmiris are caged up in one of the world’s largest concentration camps.

Dr Mazari said that as the world battles the COVID pandemic, India has used the virus to supplement its tools of repression. She said India is usurping Kashmiri people’s inalienable right to self-determination in willful breach of the UN Charter, UN Security Council resolutions, and international law. “This ‘Final Solution’, as the fascist BJP-RSS regime calls it, can be a major precursor to the genocide of Kashmiri people. The ‘Genocide Watch’ has already sounded the alarm bells. She said Indian forces have intensified systematic use of summary executions, torture, and rape as a weapon.

Referring to Pakistan, the minister said, “Despite challenges, we are determined to uphold, respect, promote and safeguard rights and freedoms of all our citizens. We have made headway on the human rights front at home and are resolved to build on our achievements.”

“Pakistan’s human rights plans and policies are directed at realising the vision of a humane, compassionate, peaceful and inclusive society. Our institutional oversight is robust.