January 12 (KMS): In Kashmir, the Chairman of All Parties Hurriyet Conference (APHC), Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Veteran Kashmiri Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani, have hoped that the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, during her visit to the territory will take note of rights abuses perpetrated by Indian troops.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in a media interview in Srinagar said, “We hope that the UN Rapporteur will take note of the human rights violations and impress upon India to put an end to it.”
Syed Ali Gilani said that the world body was morally and legally bound to take note of rights violations in the territory by virtue of its resolutions on Kashmir. “If the UN Rapporteur is serious, she should visit the jails and families of the victims of Indian state terrorism. It is not only the human rights defenders but every section of the society in Kashmir including children and aged have suffered at the hands of troopers and police,” he added.Khuram Pervez, the Program Coordinator of Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society said that the human rights defenders in the Valley had been facing victimization by the occupation forces for past two decades. “During the last six months, the human rights defenders, particularly lawyers, have been implicated in false cases and even threatened with sedition charges for raising voice in favour of the oppressed people. During our meeting with the UN Rapporteur, we will submit that it is impossible for human rights defenders to work in such a situation,” he maintained.
It may be mentioned here that the UN Special Rapporteur, Margaret Sekaggya, will be visiting the territory next week to meet a cross-section of people to assess the human rights situation. She arrived in New Delhi on January 10 on her first 12-day fact-finding mission to take stock of situation in three Indian states Gujarat, Orissa and West Bengal besides occupied Kashmir.
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