ISLAMABAD: An eleven-member Kashmiri delegation, hailing from
both sides of Line of Control (LoC), left for Geneva to attend the 51st
session of the United Nations Human Rights council.
Led by All Parties Hurriyat Conference Azad Jammu and Kashmir (APHC-AJK)
chapter leader Altaf Hussain Wani, the delegation comprised political
leaders, academicians, civil society members and rights activists, including
Sardar Amjad Yousaf Khan, Syed Faiz Naqashbandi, Advocate Pervez Shah, Ms
Shamim Shawl, Hassan Al-Bana, Prof. Shagufta Ashraf, Dr Waleed Rasool, Dr
Saira Shah, Dr Waqas Ali Kausar and Barrister Needa Salam.
During its week-long stay in Geneva the Kashmiri delegation besides
attending the UNHRC session is scheduled to attend a host of important
meetings with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Special
rapporteurs, diplomats and representatives of international Non-Governmental
Organisations (NGOs).
The main objective of the visit is to bring to focus the ongoing human
rights violations in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir,
particularly the rising incidents of extrajudicial killings, mass
destruction of properties, clampdown on dissent, attacks on right to
education and religious rights and plight of the Kashmiri prisoners.
The delegation would also apprise the world community of the Indian
government’s sinister designs aimed at changing the demographics of the
region and its anti-Kashmir policies intended to minimize the majority
community’s role in decision-making process and reduce their political
representation in the legislature by granting voting rights to
non-Kashmiris.
