Govt of India not allowing UN human rights officials to visit Kashmir: Amnesty

By A Representative
Reacting to the second report released by the UN on the human rights situation in both Indian-Administered Kashmir and Pakistan-Administered Kashmir, Aakar Patel, executive director, Amnesty International India, has said that “India must pay heed to the UN reports and fulfil its obligations under international human rights law."
"It must immediately end the atmosphere of impunity by repealing repressive laws, criminalizing torture and ensuring effective, impartial and independent investigations into human rights abuses. It must also end the use of pellet guns and other weapons which are inherently inaccurate and indiscriminate and have injured hundreds of innocent civilians and protect human rights defenders and journalists", he added.
India has rejected the findings and recommendations of the new report, in the same way as it did the last year’s, accusing the United Nations of violating its “sovereignty and territorial integrity”. The new report alleges that no meaningful improvements, follow up or serious discussion took place on the recommendations.
The Government of India has denied OHCHR the access to Kashmir which led the human rights body to mostly rely on the “research and monitoring carried out by local, national and international nongovernmental organizations and human rights defenders” besides the information available in the public domain, Amnesty said.

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