Geneva, October 16, 2019 (PPI-OT): A number of UN Working Groups and Special Rapporteurs have urged India to take all necessary measures to guarantee the Kashmiris’ right to liberty and fair proceedings before an independent and impartial tribunal in accordance with Articles 9 and 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The demand was made in a joint communication by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, the Special Rapporteurs on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and right to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.
The joint communiqué said that on 9th August 2019, despite the restrictions, an estimated 10,000 citizens protested in Srinagar city. Indian forces opened fire using live ammunition, rubber bullets, pellet guns and tear gas, causing significant injuries. It said that the forces also raided private homes during the night and arrested boys and teenagers and the whereabouts of some of the individuals arrested or abducted in Kashmir, including children, remain unknown.
The Working Groups and Special Rapporteurs also expressed their concerns over the shutting down of the internet and telecommunication networks, as well as landline and television channels. They stressed India to take all necessary measures to halt the human rights violations and prevent their re-occurrence and punish the people responsible for the violations.
Meanwhile, students at Ali Garh Muslim University staged a protest demonstration in the university campus to express solidarity with the besieged Kashmiri people. The protesting students urged India to lift restrictions in the occupied territory.
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