Pakistan criticized at UNHRC for its duplicity on Kashmir
Mar 13, 2019
Geneva (Switzerland), Mar 13 (ANI): Kashmiri political activists and intellectuals have strongly criticized Pakistan for its duplicity on Kashmir during the 40th Session of UN Human Rights Council here on Tuesday.While giving an intervention Junaid Qureshi, a Kashmiri and director of European Foundation of South Asian Studies (EFSAS) slammed Pakistan for becoming an invader to a broker. He said, “Firstly, Pakistan invaded Jammu & Kashmir in 1947. Since then, it has been an Occupier - And now, it is a broker, as it is negotiating the sale of Gilgit Baltistan to Beijing. In collaboration with China, Pakistan’s attempts to change the status of Gilgit Baltistan have multiplied, as the region is vital for the construction of the illegal China Pakistan Economic Corridor. He added, “The Pakistani Supreme Court, in its verdict of 17 January 2019, rightly acknowledged that Gilgit Baltistan is a disputed territory and its status cannot be changed. However, the said disputed status of this integral part of Jammu & Kashmir, strangely enough, did not prevent the same Supreme Court from extending its own jurisdiction over the region”. “Pakistan has forcibly divided Jammu & Kashmir while it continues fomenting Terrorism and keeps deceiving the world by manifesting itself as a self-styled protector of the rights of the people of Jammu & Kashmir for over 7 decades”, said Junaid while adding that the people of Jammu & Kashmir fear that Pakistan’s sheer cunningness and utter hypocrisy will keep prevailing at the expense of this and coming generations, unless, the UN intervenes and proves them wrong. Activists from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) also highlighted the issue of gross human rights violations and mushrooming of terror camps in the region. Sardar Shaukat Ali Kashmiri, the Chairman of United Kashmir Peoples National Party told the UNHRC that Pakistan has been using their land as launching pad to orchestrate terror and destruction in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere in the region. He said, “We are very much concerned about growing menace of terrorism from Pakistan and its implications on regional and international peace”.Kashmiri also raised other issues concerning the people of PoK and Gilgit Baltistan. He said, “Pakistan has violated international law as well as United Nations resolutions and created an unfair consolidation in its peripheries”. “She has constructed many dams in the disputed territories beyond its mandate and deprived millions of Pakistan from basic needs.” Kashmiri told the UNHRC. Jamil Maqsood, a political activist from PoK, who now lives in Brussels, has told the UNHRC about deliberate attempts by Islamabad to restrict him from traveling back home by blocking his Pakistani passport. Jamil said, “Pakistani authorizes have restricted my travel back home in so-called Azad Kashmir by blocking my Pakistani passport, since 30th of October 2017 and an online request for the renewal of the said document has not been responded since 9th January 2019 respectively”.
