Pakistan for end to HR violations in Indian Occupied Kashmir

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Pakistan for end to HR violations in Indian Occupied Kashmir

GENEVA, Sep 17 (APP): Pakistan on Monday called for an end to human rights violation in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. While making a statement on the principle to right to self determination, at the 6th Session of the 47-member of the Human Rights Council, Ambassador Masood Khan, Pakistan Permanent Representative to the UN, said that Kashmiris had not exercised this right.

“The lodestar for the Kashmiris are several UN Security Council resolutions which had promised them their inalienable right to self determination”, he said.

The Pakistani Ambassador drew the attention of the Human Rights Council to statements from Kashmiri leaders and political activists who had demanded an end to human rights abuses in IOK through troops withdrawal, abrogation of draconian laws and release of political prisoners.

Ambassador Khan also said that Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch had independently “verified the prevalence of continuing grave human rights violations in IOK”.

“Human rights violations in IOK must cease”, he said.

The Pakistani Permanent Representative said that improvement in human rights situation in IOK will strengthen the dialogue process started in 2004 and help in the resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

He called for intensified efforts to explore a durable, negotiated settlement of the Kashmir dispute with the involvement of the Kashmiris.

“We should try to find out a solution that is acceptable to Pakistan, India and the people of Kashmir”, he said.

Ambassador Masood Khan said that the principle of self-determination is the bedrock of the United Nations and contemporary international order. This right, he said, should be exercised freely, in conditions free from coercion or repression.

Associated Press of Pakistan - Pakistan for end to HR violations in Indian Occupied Kashmir