Pakistan mulls different legal options to raise HRs violations in IIOJK: Dr Mazari

ISLAMABAD, Sep 12 (APP):Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari on Sunday said Pakistan was mulling to explore different legal options to take up the issue of gross human rights violations in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) at the relevant forums. Addressing a press conference along with Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Advisor to Prime Minister on National Security Dr Moeed Yusuf here at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she said the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and other international forums could be approached over the Indian illegal steps aimed at demographic changes in the IIOJK. The ICJ had already given its advisory opinion over the issue of Israeli occupation, she said adding, they were studying certain options which would also be helpful in further presenting the issue before the world. She said the Indian occupation forces started using sexual assault as weapon of war against the Kashmiri women during 90s and since then the issue had remained unresolved and uninvestigated. She referred to the collective sexual assaults in Kunan and Poshpora during February 1991, and said no criminal proceedings were initiated against the culprits. The UN resolutions called for the protection of women and children in war and conflict zones and any defiance to these conventions could lead to slapping of sanctions, she said. Dr Mazari further demanded of the European Union (EU) to implement its policy doctrine over human rights in the IIOJK as well by immediately holding India accountable for the ongoing gross rights violations. What Indian forces were committing in IIOJK were clear violations of 4th Geneva Convention and the international community must take immediate notice, she added. “The EU should demand that human rights violations in IIOJK are unacceptable”, she said adding that dual standards on human rights violations should be discarded and ‘irresponsible and rouge India must be held accountable’. The minister referred to the recent prolonging of EU’s sanctions on Russian over territorial issue of Ukraine and questioned why it was not imposing such sanctions against India. Drawing a parallel between German Nazis and the fascist policies of Modi’s government, she questioned whether the international community could allow India to hold office of the president of United Nations Security Council. Dr Mazari further reiterated that UN should compel India to holding investigation and identifying perpetrators who had been directly involved in these gross human rights violations in IIOJK. India had been using cluster bombs in IIOJK with impunity, she added. To a query, Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi said, any international organization had the mandate to question and demand India to provide details about the disappeared Kashmiris. He said IIOJK was not a new issue as it had been unresolved in the past 70 years. The world community had rejected Indian stance that IIOJK was its internal issue. The UN secretary general, during his visit to Pakistan, had reiterated its position over the issue, he added. The foreign minister said IIOJK had been a strong legal case and ‘Pakistan would continue to do which it ought to do’. Qureshi added that protecting fundamental human rights was not just the state’s responsibility but there were international instruments and mechanisms that ensured rights protection. He said Human Rights Council was an esteemed entity and stressed upon utilization of all such like forums for the cause of IIOJK. He further stressed that IIOJK issue could be taken up at several human rights fora, adding that India’s image as democratic country had undergone a sea-change not only at the international level but within its own society. The fascist policies of Modi’s government posed threats to the regional peace, he added Qureshi further informed that Pakistani missions and ambassadors across the world would disseminate the evidences and information contained in the dossier throughout the world, so that the real face of India could be exposed. PM’s Advisor on National Security Dr Moeed Yousuf, to a query, replied that the world had realized what India was committing in IIOJK and nobody now defended what India was doing. “There is a clear shift in the thinking of the international community,” he added. Dr Moeed said Pakistan’s stance over the fake news was vindicated with busting of international Indian network by EU DisInfo Lab; and reiterated that Pakistan would continue bringing forth evidences of what India had been doing in IIOJK. He cautioned that Indian policies posed real threats to the regional and global peace and stability. He said unveiling of dossier over Indian atrocities and gross human rights violations with evidences also meant paying tributes to the struggle of late Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Geelani.\9329/12/2021 5:14:22 PM