A 10-member Kashmiri delegation, hailing from both sides of Line of Control (LoC), left for Geneva to attend the 54th session of the United Nations Human Rights council.
The delegation 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, and Naila Altaf Kiyani.
During its week-long stay in Geneva, the Kashmiri delegation besides attending the UNHRC session is scheduled to attend 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, illegal detentions, atrocities, snatching of properties, suspending Kashmiri Muslim government employees, clampdown on dissent, silencing political voice, media, 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.—KMS
