UN rights chief calls for major probe into Kashmir abuses

GENEVA - Agence France-Presse

The U.N. human rights chief on June 14 called for a major investigation into abuses in Kashmir, as his office released its first-ever report on violations committed by both India and Pakistan in the disputed territory.

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said he would urge the Human Rights Council, which opens a new session next week, “to consider establishing a Commission of Inquiry [COI] to conduct a comprehensive independent international investigation into allegations of human rights violations in Kashmir.”

A COI is one of the UN’s highest-level probes, generally reserved for major crises like the Syrian conflict.

The U.N. report, which is particularly critical of India, highlights “chronic impunity for violations committed by security forces.”

India’s foreign ministry rejected the report, blasting it as “fallacious” and “tendentious.”

However Islamabad welcomed Zeid’s request for a probe, saying in a statement that it was “consistent with Pakistan’s several calls to this effect since 2016.”

The findings, described as the first-of-its-kind for Kashmir, come after months of deadly clashes along the border that divides Kashmir into zones of Indian and Pakistani control.

Zeid said he met with representatives of both governments following an upsurge of violence in July 2016, triggered by India’s killing of 22-year-rebel commander Burhan Wani.

Concerned by what the U.N. termed “large and unprecedented” protests after Wani’s death, Zeid asked for “unconditional access” to Kashmir, but neither government agreed.

His office then began remote monitoring of the region, producing a report covering alleged abuses between January 2016 and April of this year.

Kashmir has been divided since the end of British colonial rule in 1947 and both New Delhi and Islamabad claim the former Himalayan kingdom in full.

India has about 500,000 soldiers in the part of Kashmir it controls, where armed groups are fighting for independence or a merger with Pakistan.

The findings accused Indian troops of being responsible for some 145 unlawful killings, far surpassing the 20 people estimated to have been killed by militant groups during that period.

Zeid said India needed “to take immediate and effective steps to avoid a repetition of the numerous examples of excessive use of force by security forces in Kashmir.”

The rights office raised particular concern over the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, in place in Indian-administered Kashmir since 1990, which prevents soldiers from facing prosecution without the consent of the central government.

The act has amounted to “virtual immunity” for troops in Kashmir, the U.N. said, noting that the government has not approved a single case against an armed forces member.

Zeid also called on India to ward off any further escalation in Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir.