NEW YORK: United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Wednesday has urged Indian authorities to unlock situation and fully restore rights currently being denied in occupied Kashmir.
A statement issued in Geneva by spokesperson of OHCHR Rupert Colville expressed serious concern over continued human rights violations.
The statement said twelve weeks ago, on 5 August, the government of India revoked constitutional provisions granting partial autonomy to the state of Jammu and Kashmir and announced the creation of two separate federally-administered Union Territories, which will come into effect tomorrow.
The undeclared curfew imposed by authorities in region is reportedly still in place in large parts of the Kashmir Valley. The statement mentioned that another six people have been killed and over a dozen injured in alleged attacks by armed groups operating in Occupied Kashmir since 5 August.
The statement further stated hundreds of political and civil society leaders, including three former Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, have been detained on a preventative basis. It said the Supreme Court of India has been slow to deal with petitions concerning habeas corpus, freedom of movement and media restrictions.–Agencies