30 March 2017•Update: 31 March 2017
By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Pakistan
Accusing India of committing human rights violations in occupied Kashmir, Pakistan urged the international community to ensure “New Delhi is held accountable for its crimes against humanity and genocide”.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria told reporters in Islamabad on Thursday: “We are deeply saddened, shocked and strongly condemn the continued bloodshed of innocent and defenseless Kashmiris in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
“To suppress the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination, India is using brute force and has embarked on a killing spree of Kashmiris.”
His remarks came a day after India’s Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament, Amandeep Singh Gill, alleged that state patronage of international terrorists who could obtain weapons of mass destruction constituted a real and present danger to international security -- a thinly-veiled reference to Pakistan.
Four people were killed and several others injured in fresh round of shelling and firing on protesters on Wednesday in the disputed Himalayan valley, which has been a core bone of contention between the two nuclear-armed rivals for seven decades.
“In a most despicable act, the Indian occupation forces even [used] live ammunition fire on those offering funeral prayers of the martyred.
“This killing of and injuries to the Kashmiris is in addition to over 150 [Indian forces] have killed since July 8 and over 20,000 they injured,” Zakaria added.
This all happened at a time when the OIC’s Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) was visiting Azad Kashmir to gather personal accounts from those who suffered from Indian brutalities in the occupied part of the valley, he maintained.
The IPHRC has urged India to provide access to the fact-finding mission for an independent investigation into allegations of human rights abuses in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
The demand was made at the completion of a three-day visit to Islamabad and Azad (Pakistani part of) Kashmir on the invitation of Pakistan’s government on Thursday, read a statement from the foreign ministry.
The seven-member delegation has made a specific request to the Indian government to facilitate their visit to observe the situation on ground but no response has been received yet.
‘Bloodshed’
Responding to a statement from India’s External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay that terrorism emanating from Pakistan was affecting not only India but other neighbors as well, Zakaria said his country continued to suffer from Indian-sponsored and financed terrorism.
He argued that the arrest and public confession of an alleged Indian spy, Kulbhushan Yadav, who was detained in southern Balochistan province last year, was testimony to Indian state agencies’ involvement in subversive activities and terror financing in Pakistan.
Tensions between the two nuclear-rivals have been running high since India accused Pakistan of having links to gunmen who killed 19 soldiers in Indian-held Kashmir last September, fueling border clashes which have already killed nearly 90 soldiers from both sides in recent months.
Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full.
The two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- since they were partitioned in 1947, two of which were fought over Kashmir.
