UN experts slam India over role in IoK

GENEVA: United Nation experts have urged the global community for immediate action in Indian occupied Kashmir as the region marks a year on Wednesday since it was removed of its autonomy in 2019.

“Urgent action is needed,” the 18 special rapporteurs and other experts said Tuesday in a joint statement. “If India will not take any genuine and immediate steps to resolve the situation, meet their obligations to investigate historic and recent cases of human rights violations and prevent future violations, then the international community should step up,” the special rapporteurs added.

On this day last year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed direct rule last 5th August, promising peace and prosperity after three decades of violence that have seen tens of thousands of people killed in an anti-India uprising.

Since then, “the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir has been in free-fall”, the UN experts said. “We are particularly concerned that during the COVID-19 pandemic, many protestors are still in detention and internet restrictions remain in place,” the experts added.

Read more: Entire nation stands united on Kashmir issue: FM Qureshi

The experts said there was no public information on what would happen with the cases the commission had been investigating, including hundreds of “suspected enforced disappearances” dating back to 1989.

The experts urged India to schedule urgently visits by UN experts, particularly by those investigating torture and disappearances.