MIRPUR (AJK), (Parliament Times) : Veteran Kashmiri rights activist and chairman Kashmir Institute of International Relations Altaf Hussain Wani has strongly condemned India’s continued denial of the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination.
Speaking during the Interactive Dialogue with the Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order at the 60th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva late Monday, Mr. Wani said that despite solemn pledges made by the United Nations Security Council, India replaced those commitments with 900,000 troops, mass surveillance, demographic manipulations and systematic impunity, says a message reaching and released to the media here on Tuesday.
He described India’s 2019 annexation of Jammu and Kashmir and subsequent settler-colonial laws as a textbook case of unilateralism, which undermine multilateralism, it said
He warned that Kashmir has become the world’s most militarised zone, where peaceful dissent is criminalised and journalists face prosecution under draconian laws such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Speaking on behalf of the World Muslim Congress, Mr. Wani called on the Human Rights Council to convene a dedicated inter-sessional panel on Kashmir before the 61st session; re-establish a UN field presence to monitor the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir; and nsure Kashmiri civil society representatives are included in future deliberations of the Council.
He stressed that without restoring the inalienable right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people, the global pledge of a democratic and equitable international order will remain unfulfilled.
