F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday called upon the UN Security Council and Human Rights Council to take cognizance of Indian Air Force violation of the Line of Control and breach of international law, which emanated threat to international peace and security. “Pakistan condemns the unprovoked Indian aggression across the Line of Control. This demonstrates yet another violation of International Law by India and Pakistan will respond and exercise its right to self defence in accordance with the provisions of International Law and UN Charter,” said Dr. Shireen M. Mazari, Federal Minister for Human Rights while speaking at the 40th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, a message reaching here said.
The Minister said today’s event was a stark reminder that when internationally recognized disputes were left to fester and grave violations of human rights fall on deaf ears, peace and security issues face serious perils. The Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir epitomizes this situation most appropriately, she added.
She said India obfuscated its guilt and crimes in IOK by denying the legal status of Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory – contrary to UN Security Council resolutions. Given the active nature of armed conflict in IOK, she said the situation there must also be examined within the international humanitarian law perspective especially within the Geneva Conventions. It is a matter of grave urgency that India is asked to adhere to its commitments in these Conventions to which it is a party, the minister said and added that so far over 100,000 Kashmiris had died in their struggle to get freedom from Indian occupation.
She called upon the Human Rights Council in fulfilment of its mandate, to urge India to implement recommendations of the Kashmir report and grant the Kashmiri people their inalienable right to self determination through a UN supervised plebiscite as mandated by the numerous UN Security Council resolutions.
Pakistan endorses High Commissioner Bachelet’s call for urgent implementation of the recommendations of the OHCHR report, she said and added that in this regard, Pakistan welcomes the Report’s proposal to establish a Commission of Inquiry for international investigation into human rights violations.
She said Pakistan also welcome the European Parliament’s Human Rights Committee for endorsing the same last week in Brussels. The minister said Pakistan would welcome the Commission to Azad Kashmir but would expect India to do the same too. Pakistan has already received an OIC independent Human Rights Commission in AJK. Unfortunately India denied them access, she added. As a founding member of the Council, the minister said Pakistan had played an active role and would continue to do so by supporting and contributing to all its processes. “We are committed to promoting and protecting human rights within our country and internationally. My government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan has placed Human Rights as a central pillar of its agenda,” she said. Despite suffering the scourge of terrorism and regional upheavals, she said that Pakistan today had a stable parliamentary democracy, an independent judiciary, a vibrant civil society and an independent media. The minister said that in order to achieve the goals of national development, the government was particularly focused on improving the lives of women, minorities and differently-abled persons through key legislation, awareness programmes and enforcement of existing laws.
Shireen Mazari said minorities in Pakistan had the right to freedom of religion and the government was committed to ensuring their rights and their protection. She said Pakistan’s progress in human rights in domestic affairs was matched by fulfilment of the international obligations on this subject. It would be amiss on my part not to draw the member states attention to the plight of human rights of Muslims in Europe where Pakistan also has a large diaspora, she said and added that with Islamophobia on the rise, “we are concerned about the rights of Muslims to practice their religion freely, including constraints on women’s choice of dress according to their religious and cultural norms.”
