Islamabad: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has written a letter to the UN rights chief over alleged human rights violations in Kashmir. Qureshi said his letter to UN High Commissioner for the Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Friday was a follow up on his letter dated December 16, 2018 over “the deteriorating human rights situation” in Kashmir.
He said India blamed Pakistan after the Pulwama attack to divert global attention from the issue. Qureshi’s remarks came amidst fresh Indo-Pakistan tensions over the attack in Pulwama on February 14 that left 40 CRPF personnel dead. “I wish to underscore that Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognised disputed territory,” he said.
“The issue of Jammu and Kashmir remains an outstanding item on the agenda of UN Security Council,” Qureshi said. He said that the troubling situation in Jammu and Kashmir also warrants attention from the international humanitarian law perspective, especially the four Geneva Conventions.
India maintains that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the country and Pakistan is in illegal occupation of a part of the state’s territory. It says that the country’s democracy has all that is required to address legitimate grievances. India has been maintaining that people in Jammu and Kashmir were victims of cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which was training and arming militants and helping them infiltrate across the Line of Control.
