Geneva, September 28, 2022 (PPI-OT):The Chairman of Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR), Altaf Hussain Wani, has drawn attention of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) towards the miserable plight of Kashmiri human rights defenders, political activists, and civil society organizations in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Altaf Wani in a joint letter addressed to all members and observer states of the United Nations Human Rights Council, said that India was using black laws to persecute rights defenders, suppress legitimate political voices and people’s right to dissent in the occupied territory.
He referred to the use and abuse of draconian law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) by the authorities in IIOJK. He said over the last several years, the Indian authorities have been engaged in a systematic campaign of repression of human rights and restrictions on civic spaces.
“After the withdrawal of its special status on August 05 2019, the Kashmir region witnessed a systematic erosion of press freedom and ruthless suppression of dissent and shrinking of space for civil society,” the communique said adding that the intimidation, harassment, reprisals and attacks on human rights defenders have reached a new low which has never been witnessed in the past.
The letter said, it has become more difficult and dangerous for human rights defenders, activists, and civil society organisations to operate in the territory. It added that shutting down independent media, intimidating and harassing human rights defenders and political activists, banning peaceful protests, and imposing unwarranted restrictions on the operations of civil society organizations were amongst the most abhorrent colonial-era tactics being exercised by the Indian authorities in the occupied territory.
The KIIR chief while citing the ruthless suppression of dissent in the region, mentioned that prominent human rights defenders and political leaders who have been championing Kashmiris’ political and democratic rights and questioning the Indian illegal occupation have been booked under the draconian UAPA and left to rot in jails far away from their homeland.
He said that jailed Kashmiri rights activist Khurram Parvez whom the US-based Times magazine called a ‘modern-day David’ was booked on “terrorism” charges last year. “Khurrum Parvaiz and others were being punished just for working together with international human rights organizations and UN human rights mechanisms including the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human rights in documenting brutalities and human rights violations committed by the Indian forces in IIOJK.
Altaf Wani said that besides the offices and residences of the valley-based human rights activists who have been cooperating with international human rights watchdogs since 1990 were raided by India’s dreaded National Investigation Agency (NIA). “These raids, which experts believe are part of the BJP government’s official policy to enforce silence on Kashmir, were aimed to target those critical voices who have time and again spoken out over the stepped-up human rights violations, reckless violence and systematic slow-motion genocide in Kashmir,” he added.
He expressed his serious concern about the safety and security of Khurum Parvaiz and other Kashmiri political prisoners and activists who have been arrested before and after 05 August 2019 and continue to languish in jails.
The KIIR chairman deplored that the BJP government was remorselessly using the UAPA and other black laws to persecute the Kashmiris. These laws, he said, flagrantly violated the fundamental rights enshrined under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India as well as the UN Charter for Human Rights. He maintained that the draconian Act erodes people’s civil liberties and empowers authorities to categorise individuals/associations as terrorists and detain them without producing any incriminating evidence. He said, under the law, the burden of proof was placed on the individual to satisfy the court or government that he/she was not a terrorist. The law, he added, ran contrary to the principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty in criminal jurisprudence.
Given the massive abuse of the draconian laws such as PSA (Public Safety Act), AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act), UAPA and other laws, Altaf Wani said that there was a dire need for robust and genuine international support and a proper monitoring mechanism, without which Kashmiri civil society organizations would not be able to operate independently in the occupied territory.
The KIIR chief while stressing the need for holding Indian government accountable said it is imperative that during the forthcoming UPR (Universal Periodic Review), the Indian representative should be asked what steps the Indian government had taken to improve the human rights situation in the IIOJK.
“Special laws like AFSPA; one of the most lethal laws mentioned in United Nations Human Rights Council reports should be abolished as India agreed in third cycle of UPR process,” he said, adding that it was being used as a tool to suppress the dissent through illegal detentions.
Regarding the PSA, he said that draconian law under which the authorities have the power to put a person behind bars without any trial for up to two years should be revoked. “In past the law was used for prolonged and excessive hunt of youth, political leaders and civil society and human right activists,” he said.
Similarly, Altaf Wani mentioned that the UAPA allows the Indian government to jail an individual for six months, without a trial or bail, stonewalling any judicial intervention.
According to the Amnesty International and the United Nations, he said, the UAPA does not meet international human rights standards. He suggested that the law must be repealed and people jailed under the UAPA must be released including Khurrum Pervaiz.
The KIIR chairman also suggested that India should be pressurized to facilitate visit of special rapporteurs on right to association and racial discrimination and extrajudicial killing and torture to assess the real ground situation in IIOJK. He said that India should be asked to ratify convention against torture, enforced and involuntary disappearances, and investigate unmarked mass graves in the occupied territory.
Altaf Wani said that the appointment of a special envoy for Kashmir would also go a long way to improve the human rights situation in IIOJK and bring an immediate end to the ongoing human rights abuses in the territory.
For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Phone: +92-51-4435548, +92-51-4435549
Fax: +92-51-4861736
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Website: www.kmsnews.org
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