Former external minister Sinha says it’s a matter of concern
By Abdul Bari Masoud, MuslimMirror.com,
New Delhi: India Thursday rejected as “fallacious, tendentious and motivated” the first ever report on human rights in Kashmir released by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (OHCHR) which calls for “an urgent need to address past and ongoing human rights violations and abuses and deliver justice for all people in Kashmir”. The UN report also called upon India to “urgently repeal” the AFSPA; establish independent, impartial and credible investigations to probe all civilian killings since July 2016.
However, India rejected the report saying “it is fallacious, tendentious and motivated.” In response to a question, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said,“ We question the intent in bringing out such a report. It is a selective compilation of largely unverified information. It is overtly prejudiced and seeks to build a false narrative.”
The 49-page report issued by the OHCHR “details human rights violations and abuses on both sides of the Line of Control, and highlights a situation of chronic impunity for violations committed by security forces”, a statement issued from Geneva on Thursday said.
The report urged India to provide “reparations and rehabilitation to all injured individuals and to the families of those killed in the context of security operations. Similarly, the PSA should be amended to ensure its compliance with international human rights law, and all those held under administrative detention should either be charged or immediately released”.
Stating that the report violates India’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity”, MEA spokesperson said that “the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India.”
“Pakistan is in the illegal and forcible occupation of a part of the Indian state through aggression. We have repeatedly called upon Pakistan to vacate the occupied territories,” Kumar said.
“The incorrect description of Indian territory in the report is mischievous, misleading and unacceptable. There are no entities such as ‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir’ and ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’.”
Stating that terrorism is the most egregious violation of human rights, the spokesperson said that yet the authors have conveniently ignored the pattern of cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan and territories under its illegal control.
“Cross-border terror and incitement are aimed at suppressing the will of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, disrupting its political and social fabric and undermining India’s integrity,” he stated.
“It is disturbing that those behind this report have chosen to describe internationally designated and UN-proscribed terrorist entities as ‘armed groups’ and terrorists as ‘leaders’. This undermines the UN-led consensus on zero tolerance to terrorism.”
Kumar also said that the motivated report deliberately ignores that fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution to every Indian citizen, including in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, are protected also by an independent judiciary, human rights commissions, free and vibrant media and an active civil society.
He said India’s protest and views in the matter have been conveyed unequivocally to the OHCHR.
“We are deeply concerned that individual prejudices are being allowed to undermine the credibility of a UN institution,” he said.
“Such malicious reports cannot undermine the will of the people and the government of India to take all measures necessary to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country from cross-border terrorism,” he added.
However, taking a contrary line on the report, former external affairs minister and former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said: “it is a matter of concern for India”. Sinha told Muslim Mirror that he did not see the report; therefore, he could not make a detailed comment on the report right now. It is to mention that Sinha, who left the BJP recently and a vocal critique of the Modi government policies including on Kashmir, has been active to bring peace in the Kashmir valley through civil society initiative.
Meanwhile, the main opposition Congress party also rejected the UN report on Kashmir saying it fully supports the stand taken by the government of India. In response to a question, Congress spokesperson Rajiv Shukla said the Congress condemns and rejects the report.
“As far as this report is concerned on J&K, I think the report has been released without getting into the ground situation in J&K. I do not think any UN team visited J&K and giving/releasing this kind of report will always encourage the terrorist groups.”
When this correspondent, whether the party supports the government’s stand on it. Shukla said we are completely with the government and “terror” groups have been violating human rights.
“The Congress Party supports the Government of India’s stand on this report. Internationally designated and UN proscribed terrorist entities cannot be addressed as armed groups or leaders. We condemn this kind of report treating it as uncalled for. The report violates India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The entire State of J&K is an integral part of India”.
Differing the GOI’s stand and Congress, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said the UN report has ‘vindicated’ many points raised by the party.
Talking to Muslim Mirror from Tamil Nadu where he was addressing a public rally, CPI (M) Secretary General Sitaram Yechury said the UN report shows many things that CPI (M) has been saying all along since the situation has deteriorated in the Kashmir valley.
He said the government did not implement the confidence-building measures (CBM) assured to the Parliamentary delegation which visited Kashmir. The urgency of the report is that the government must implement the CBMs and second it should initiate political dialogue with all the stakeholders as it promised to the parliamentary delegation, he said.
I have been showing concerns on the ground reality in J&K based on my own human sources. I have started endorsing concerns/ideas expressed by Mr. Sinha and Mr. Yechury. In fact, I have been questioning the use of”dialogue” is too little, too late. We need active listening, prompt acting type approach. We may not like what CIA Factbook says. But the rest of the world considers that differently. It is beyond Congress and BJP/RSS to even empathize with the Valley dwellers. Both of them practice subtly Hindutva majoritarianism and are ill-informed power grabbers-might is right. Now is their turn to show the rest of the nation who is RIGHT. Period