UN human rights chief hits back at India over Kashmir human rights report
UN human rights chief hits back at India over Kashmir human rights report

TEHRAN – Denying any collusion with Pakistani activists in preparing the first-ever report on the human rights situation in Kashmir, across the dividing line, UN human rights commissioner has said he is “deeply disappointed” by the reaction of the Indian authorities Referring to the official response from New Delhi, the UN human rights commissioner Zeid Raad […]

TEHRAN – Denying any collusion with Pakistani activists in preparing the first-ever report on the human rights situation in Kashmir, across the dividing line, UN human rights commissioner has said he is “deeply disappointed” by the reaction of the Indian authorities

Referring to the official response from New Delhi, the UN human rights commissioner Zeid Raad Hussein’s spokesperson said that they were “deeply disappointed by the reaction of the Indian authorities, who dismissed the report as ‘fallacious, tendentious and motivated’ without examining it and responding to the very serious concerns about the human rights situation in Indian-administered Kashmir and Pakistan-administered Kashmir as laid out in the report”.

He said that the UN human rights chief’s office was “disturbed by the sustained attempts to distract and divert the focus away from the human rights violations on both sides of the Line of Control”.

The report released on July 14 focused mainly on the “human rights situation” in India’s Jammu and Kashmir from July 2016 to April 2018 based on “allegations of widespread and serious human rights violations were received, notably excessive use of force by Indian security forces that led to numerous civilian casualties”.

The outgoing human rights chief had called for an international commission of inquiry into the allegations, but it wasn’t taken up during the last session which ended on July 6.