UN Office Calls for Probe Into Human Rights in Kashmir
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 1642 ... July 18, 2018
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UN Office Calls for Probe Into Human Rights in Kashmir
John Riddell
A conference in Mississauga July 7, convened by the Kashmir Welfare Society, marked the first organized response in Canada to a United Nations report calling for an investigation of human rights violations in this divided South Asian territory.
More than 200 participants adopted a resolution calling on the government of India to withdraw troops from Kashmir (full name: Jammu and Kashmir) in order to permit an "enabling environment" for implementation of the UN’s resolutions calling for a plebiscite to determine the territory’s future.
President Sardar Masood Khan of Azad Kashmir, the Pakistan-administered portion of Kashmir, described to the Mississauga gathering a broad unarmed protest movement in Indian-administered Kashmir that seeks self-determination... for this territory. He greeted the UN report as a step toward a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
Khan explained that the Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), presented June 14, 2018, speaks of allegations of "widespread and serious human rights violations" in Kashmir from July 2016 to April 2018, "notably excessive use of force by Indian security forces that led to numerous civilian casualties."
Zafar Bangash, director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought, pointed out that a Canada-based petition with more than 50,000 signatures had contributed to the UNHCHR decision to look into the Kashmir conflict.
