HR abuses by Indian troops in IoK raised in London conference
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ISLAMABAD: Kashmiri representative and Hurriyat leader, Altaf Ahmad Butt, has said that India is committing gross human rights violations in occupied Kashmir.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Altaf Ahmad Butt addressing a conference “Human Rights violations and threat to media in IoK” in London said for the first time in the history of Kashmir dispute, the United Nations rights body has indicted India twice in a span of few months.
He said first by the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Raad Al-Hussein in a report on human rights situation in occupied Kashmir and by Hussein’s successor, Michele Bachelet, who slammed India for lack of any meaningful improvement on addressing issues highlighted in the report released by Hussein.
He said the UN report should be read in the context of an important development. He said in May, India’s Ministry of External Affairs asked foreign journalists working in India to apply for permission before visiting restricted and protected areas. He said several reports suggested the measure was taken to make entry of foreign reporters into occupied Kashmir difficult.
Altaf Ahmad Butt said the UN report and several news stories and features chronicled the grave situation in occupied Kashmir and also highlighted the curbs on the media like detention of journalists and intimidation of media owners. He said the result of all these developments is crackdowns underway on the media in the occupied territory.
He said police during the past three-four months have called several Kashmiri journalists to police stations. Passports of many journalists were withheld during the questioning.
He said the India’s infamous National Investigation Agency arrested and interrogated in New Delhi a freelance journalist who had interviewed woman Hurriyat leader, Aasiya Andrabi, for a local newspaper.
Lord Quarban Hussain, AJK Prime Minister, Raja Farooq Haider Khan, Afzal Khan, MP UK parliament, Dr Nazir Gilani, Barrister Iftikhar Gilani and several journalists form AJK also spoke on the occasion.
APP
