DM Monitoring
UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan Thursday urged the UN to ensure that women human rights defenders in Indian occupied Kashmir, whose voices are being systematically silenced by over 900,000 troops, can continue their legitimate work to promote and protect human rights in the disputed territory.
“Women human rights defenders are faced with enormous challenges in situations of foreign occupation, such as in Indian Occupied Kashmir,” Pakistani delegate Hadeeqa Qureshi told the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee, which deals with social, humanitarian and cultural issues.
“We must respect, support, honour and acknowledge their invaluable contributions in conflict situations, including situations of foreign occupation,” she said in the course of an interactive dialogue with UN’s Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor.
Ms. Qureshi, a third secretary in the Pakistan Mission to the UN, said women human rights defenders were suffering at the hands of Indian Occupation Forces sexual and gender-based violence, enforced disappearances, torture and inhuman treatment, unlawful detentions, intimidations, stigmatization, smear campaigns, cyber-bullying, harassment and threats to their families. “Through the world’s longest internet shutdowns and curb on media and social media, their voices are being systematically silenced.,” the Pakistani delegate said.
“They are punished under draconian laws for their legitimate human rights work and their activities are banned or subjected to surveillance.” Indian delegate Kajal Bhat reacted to the sharp words from her Pakistani counterpart, claiming that Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh were an “integral and inalienable territory of India and this includes J&K currently under the illegal occupation of Pakistan.”
Exercising her right of reply, Ms. Qureshi debunked the Indian delegate’s claim. “Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized territory and is not at all an integral part of India, nor is it India’s domestic matter,” she said. “Repeating a wrong position (by India) would not make it acceptable at any point or at any forum.”
