India on Thursday strongly protested UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein’s comments on the Kashmir in his annual report and an oral update on human rights developments at the 37th session of the UN Human Rights Council.
In his address on Wednesday, Hussein had said, “With respect to Kashmir, on both sides of the Line of Control, regrettably unconditional access continues to be refused to my office, and I will report on this issue at greater length in June.”
Stating that Hussein’s update does not reflect the situation in India adequately, Indian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN offices and other international organisations in Geneva, Raj Kumar Chander said, “There is also a reference to the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. There is none to cross-border terrorism. Terrorism is the most fundamental violation of human rights and we overlook its egregiousness at our own peril.”
Kumar said, “selective and tendentious statements on human rights issues only serve to undermine the credibility of this approach”.
In Kashmir, Chairman of Hurriyat (M) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday called upon the United Nations to strongly take up the issue of abolishing the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from Kashmir.
Mirwaiz, in a tweet also said that the governments of India and Pakistan should allow unconditional access to the United Nations to Kashmir so that they can access the situation on ground.
At #JamaMasjid today-Support UNHRC demand of unconditional access to #Kashmir by Governments of India and Pakistan to assess the situation and urge the UN to strongly take up with GOI the issue of abolition of draconian #AFSPA ,the main cause of unabated killings in Kashmir pic.twitter.com/DBoo4lk8yI
— Mirwaiz Umar Farooq (@MirwaizKashmir) March 9, 2018
