India rejects UN report on human rights in J&K

New Delhi, June 14: India on Thursday rejected as “fallacious, tendentious and motivated” the first ever report on human rights in Kashmir released by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (OHCHR). The 49-page report issued by the OHCHR “details human rights violations and abuses on both sides of the Line of Control, and highlights a situation of chronic impunity for violations committed by security forces”, a statement issued from Geneva on Thursday said. “The political dimensions of the dispute between India and Pakistan have long been centre-stage, but this is not a conflict frozen in time. It is a conflict that has robbed millions of their basic human rights, and continues to this day to inflict untold suffering,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in the statement.

It also called upon India to “urgently repeal” the AFSPA; establish independent, impartial and credible investigations to probe all civilian killings since July 2016 and all abuses committed by armed groups; and provide reparations and rehabilitation to all injured individuals and to the families of those killed in the context of security operations. Similarly, the PSA should be amended to ensure its compliance with international human rights law, and all those held under administrative detention should either be charged or immediately released.

According to the report, the UN Human Rights Office - which, despite repeated requests to both India and Pakistan over the past two years, has not been given unconditional access to either side of the Line of Control - “undertook remote monitoring to produce the report, which covers both Indian-Administered Kashmir and Pakistan-Administered Kashmir”.

Stating that the report violates India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, Kumar, in his response, said that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. (IANS)