Kashmir

Bilawal addresses letters to UNHC for Human Rights & OIC Secretary-General on the fallacious conviction of Yasin Malik

ISLAMABAD, May 25 (SABAH): As part of Pakistan’s ongoing efforts to draw the attention of the international community to the alarming situation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK), Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has addressed a letter to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Michelle Bachelet. The letter apprises the High Commissioner, in particular, of the Indian government’s ongoing attempts to persecute and repress the Kashmiris and their leadership and to implicate them in fictitious and motivated cases.

The Foreign Minister underscored that the malicious trial and conviction of Muhammad Yasin Malik on trumped-up charges was primarily aimed at silencing him as a human rights and political activist, and to deprive the Kashmiris of their true leadership. He also cautioned that in line with the well-documented pattern of Indian behaviour, there was credible risk of “custodial murder” in case of Mr. Yasin Malik. The Foreign Minister expressed deep concern at the inhuman condition of Mr. Malik’s detention in the infamous Tihar Jail since 2019.

The beleaguered Kashmiri population consistently persecuted at the hands of the occupying power was looking towards the United Nations to bring about their decisive emancipation from Indian oppression.

The Foreign Minister urged the High Commissioner and the Human Rights Council to:

– Take immediate cognizance of India’s outrageous targeting of indigenous Kashmiri leadership through motivated cases, particularly the vicious treatment meted out to one of the most prominent Kashmiri leaders, Mr. Yasin Malik, who has been leading a peaceful freedom struggle for the last many decades.

– Urge India to acquit Mr. Yasin Malik from all baseless charges and ensure his immediate release from prison so that he can be reunited with his family, recuperate his health and return to normal life.

– Urge India to release all Kashmiri political leaders and human rights defenders arrested on fabricated charges.

-Compel and counsel India to halt its gross human rights abuses against the people of IIOJK and implement the recommendations of the two OHCHR Kashmir Reports.

-Prevail on India to repeal the draconian laws including UAPA, and accept a UN-supervised investigation into the human rights situation in the IIOJK, allow access to independent monitors for assessment of the ground situation in IIOJK, and;

– Let the people of IIOJK determine their own future through a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations as enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

Meanwhile separately Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has written a letter to the Secretary-General of the OIC, Hissein Brahim Taha, apprising him about the dire human rights and humanitarian situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

In particular, the Foreign Minister has expressed grave concern over the sham conviction of Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik in a manifestly dubious and motivated case, dating back to 2017, filed against him by the Indian National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The Foreign Minister underlined that the conviction of Mr. Yasin Malik and conjuring up of motivated cases against the Kashmiri leadership was continuation of the malicious Indian campaign to suppress the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiri people and deprive them of their true leadership. This was illustrative of India as a serial violator of human rights and usurper of the fundamental freedoms of the Kashmiris.

Expressing his deep concern over the inhuman conditions under which Mr. Yasin Malik has been detained in the infamous Tihar Jail since 2019 and the brutal treatment meted out to him, the Foreign Minister urged the OIC, in line with its longstanding and principled position on Jammu and Kashmir, to continue to play its role in the wake of a litany of blatantly illegal actions taken by the Indian government to undermine the legitimate struggle led by the Kashmiri leadership to break the shackles of occupation.

In view of the grievous situation in IIOJK, the Foreign Minister requested the Secretary-General to urge India to: acquit Mr. Yasin Malik from all baseless charges and ensure his immediate release from prison so that he can be reunited with his family, recuperate his health and return to normal life; to release all Kashmiri political leaders and human rights defenders arrested on fabricated charges; to accept an OIC Commission of Inquiry on Jammu and Kashmir to conduct comprehensive, international and impartial investigation into the gross human rights violations in IIOJK; and to let the people of IIOJK determine their own future through a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations as enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

The Foreign Minister underscored that the Kashmiris continue to pin their hopes on the Islamic Ummah to bring about their decisive emancipation from Indian oppression.