India rejects UN report on HR violations in Jammu and Kashmir

 ​New Delhi: India has taken strong objection to the United Nations report published on Thursday on the issue of human rights violations in Kashmir. 

In a report released earlier in the day, the United Nations said the Indian security forces have used excessive force in Kashmir and killed and wounded numerous civilians since 2016. The UN has called for an international inquiry into the alleged violations in the disputed territory. 

Just after the UN released its report, India left no stone unturned in rejecting the allegations. “India rejects report. It is fallacious, tendentious and motivated. We question intent in bringing out the report. It is a selective compilation of largely unverified information,” the Ministry of External Affairs said on the report by the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights situation in Kashmir. 

Sources in the Union government said that to put forth its stand strongly, its representative at the UN would make a separate statement on the matter on June 19 at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

“The concerned authorities will look into the motivations which have gone into making of this report,” MoS PMO Jitendra Singh said. He added that the only issue left to be resolved between India and Pakistan was the “retrieval of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’.

“The issue ends with the 1994 resolution, which was endorsed by all the political parties. If there is any outstanding issue between India and Pakistan as far as J&K is concerned, it is only that how we have to retrieve the PoK,” Singh said.

This is the first time the United Nations has come out with a report on human rights in both Indian-administered and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. It has urged Pakistan to end its “misuse” of anti-terror legislation to persecute peaceful activists and quash dissent. 

The UN report focuses mainly on serious violations committed in Jammu and Kashmir from July 2016 to April 2018. Activists estimate that up to 145 civilians were killed by security forces and up to 20 civilians killed by armed groups in the same period, the UN report said.

“In responding to demonstrations that started in 2016, Indian security forces used excessive force that led to unlawful killings and a very high number of injuries,” the UN report said. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein called for the Human Rights Council to launch a commission of inquiry into all violations. 

Alleged sites of mass graves in the Kashmir Valley and Jammu region should be investigated, he said. Armed groups in Jammu and Kashmir have committed a range of crimes, including kidnappings, killings of civilians and sexual violence, the UN report added.

Meanwhile, there has been no comment from Pakistan on the report issued by the UN human rights office in Geneva, which called for justice for victims on both sides of the so-called Line of Conflict.