Geneva, September 27, 2023 (PPI-OT): Members of Kashmiri delegation have called upon the United Nations Human Rights Council to step in to prevent holocaust in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir by implementing the Security Council’s resolution on Kashmir.
Among those who took part in the debate on item 4 of 54th session of UNHRC included Advocate Parvez Shah, Altaf Hussain Wani, Asif Jaral, Mrs Shamim Shawl and Shahista Safi.
Asif Jarral, who is also President Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Forum France (JKDF), in his intervention before UN Human Rights Council drew the attention of the council towards the imminent danger of settler colonialism and forced demographic change in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. He said this is not a new norm, nor is it the first time that India is planning or has performed atrocities on the people of Kashmir.
“Genocide watch had already issued a genocide alert in 2019, noting that preparations for a genocide were underway,” he said adding that while the world has proactively come together to prevent further violence in Ukraine; however, the people of Indian occupied Kashmir continues to languish as the oldest and longest unresolved dispute on the UN agenda, despite 18 resolutions passed and the detailed reports published by the High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2018 and 2019.
“Before it’s too late, I urge this council to intervene and commit actively to safeguard the people and the territory of Kashmir that continues to face war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and mass genocide over the past over seven decades.”
Jarral asked the Council to take notice of the recent killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the sheikh leader in Canada, by the Indian intelligence agencies.
Advocate Parvez Ahmad Shah during his intervention drew the attention of Human Rights Council towards illegal extraction of 6 million tons of lithium reserves by Indian occupation authorities at Salal-Haimana in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district.
He said that the region is prone to earthquakes and has recorded dozens of considerable seismic events in the past few years. The government is determined to explore the discovery of lithium while ignoring the impact of any further mining and development activity in the fragile and disaster-prone Himalayan region.
The people of illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir are seriously concerned that mining companies encouraged by the Indian government to maximize extraction will ignore any environmental concerns which could lead to a significant loss of biodiversity.
He said, “Atrocities such as mass graves, children used as human shields, rape used as a weapon of war against women, children and even men, the illegal use of pellet shotguns injuring and blinding thousands of children as young as 18 months, which The New York Times described as an epidemic of dead eyes.”
“I come here today as an exiled Kashmiri mother whose 1-year-old son is outside, watching me remind this assembly of the ongoing denial of civil liberties and human rights atrocities being committed in Indian occupied Kashmir.”
“Every child in Kashmir, and those that have now grown up, know nothing less than the abuse India have meted out for more than 75 years amounting to war crimes and genocide.
“My son watches me, as I watched my father address this Council. I fear he too will have to address this council when he grows up and repeat the same thing his mother, his father and both his grandfathers have emphasised for decades. That Kashmiris are being eliminated. Our identity is being eliminated. Our history is being eliminated.”
Altaf H Wani said, “Over the last couple of weeks we saw Indian terrorists in uniform commit extra judicial murder in Indian occupied Kashmir’s Baramulla district in response to their miserable attempts to quell resistance in Kokernag, resistance against the continued occupation, annihilation and decimation of Kashmir and its Muslim population and identity”.
Citing the killing of the Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, he said “India’s extra judicial executions goes beyond borders.” “There was a time people like me living in the West feared for our families in Kashmir. Now I fear for my own life and that of my 16-month-old son waiting outside this hall.”
“In Germany, an Indian couple were arrested for spying for the Indian state. Previously, Major Avtar Singh of the Indian army accused of war crimes in Kashmir had fled to the US before committing suicide. Indian intelligence agent Kulbhushan Jadhav was caught in Pakistan involved in espionage and terrorism, and recently, 8 Indian Navy officers were caught in Qatar for spying.”
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