The Convener of All Parties Hurriyat Conference Azad Jammu and Kashmir (APHC-AJK) chapter Mehmood Ahmed Saghar has expressed his pro-found gratitude to the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Fernand de Varennes, for voicing his concern over India’s decision to hold the G20 meeting in Srinagar and its implications on the human rights situation in the region.
Mehmood Ahmed Saghar in a statement issued in Islamabad said the UN expert has rightly pointed out that holding a G20 meeting in Srinagar while massive human rights violations are ongoing was tantamount to lending support to attempts by India to normalize the brutal and repressive denial of de-mocratic and other rights of Kashmiri Muslims and minorities.
The APHC leader said the statement should serve as an eye-opener for the world, particularly the G-20 nations who have been invited by New Delhi to attend the event in a territory, which it had occupied illegally against the will of the Kashmiri people.
Mehmood Ahmed Saghar said the G20 countries should pay heed to the clarion calls emanating from within and outside Kashmir, uphold the international human rights obligations, take a unified stand on the Kashmir dispute and denounce the human rights violations being committed by the Indian troops in IIOJK.
Meanwhile, APHC-AJK leader, Altaf Ahmed Butt, in his statement in Islamabad appreciated the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Fernand de Varennes, for highlighting the critical situation faced by the people of IIOJK. He said the UN expert rightly stated that the holding of G20 meeting in Srinagar unwittingly provides a semblance of nor-malcy while massive human rights violations, arbi-trary arrests, political persecutions, and restrictions on media and human rights defenders persist in the occupied territory.—KMS
