Islamabad (Staff Report/Agencies): Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi wrote a letter to the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights drawing the attention of the international body towards worsening human rights situation in occupied Kashmir in particular and in India as a whole following the Pulwama incident.
The foreign minister pointed out that the situation is turning from bad to worse. He said there is now a concerted campaign to whip up hatred and violence against Kashmiris and discrimination against them across India.
Qureshi welcomed the concerns shown by the UN High Commissioner on 19th of this month about using Pulwama attack by such elements as justification for threats and violence against Kashmiris and Muslims in various parts of India.
FM Qureshi asked the UN High Commissioner to continue monitoring of the situation and to call for protecting people from all forms of harm on account of their identity and ethnicity.
He said that the Indian government blamed Pakistan for the attack without conducting a proper investigation. According to him, there was a need to analyse the Pulwama incident in an objective manner.
The FM urged the UN High Commissioner to issue a call on India to allow unhindered access to UN mechanisms to occupied Kashmir.
He stressed that India must also be obliged to comply with its international humanitarian law obligations with respect to the held valley.
Qureshi also welcomed the call made earlier this week on India by the European Parliament's Sub-Committee on Human Rights to end its atrocities in the occupied Kashmir.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi also urged South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to play a constructive role for maintaining peace in South Asian region.
During a telephonic conversation with his Nepalese counterpart Pradeep Kumar Gyawali on Saturday, FM Qureshi pointed out that the SAARC forum was established to bring the regional countries close to each other.
On this occasion, Nepalese Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said that maintaining peace in the region is the collective responsibility which is in the interest of all the regional countries.
