Islamabad
The Kashmir Institute of International Relations, (KIIR) in collaboration with World Muslim Congress, organized a webinar on the sidelines of the 46th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The webinar titled “Absence of fair trial for political prisoners, a case study Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir” was addressed by international human rights and humanitarian law experts, academicians and Kashmiri activists.
The speakers included Dr Iqtidar Cheema, FCMI Member, United Nations, Global Steering Committee, Julie Ward, former Member of the European Parliament, Duke Salman Khan, South, Arjun Singh Sethi, Professor of Law, a community activist, civil rights lawyer and writer based in Washington, D.C, Khaled A.
Beydoun, Professor of Law at the University of Arkansas School of Law, Syed Faiz Naqshbandi, Convener of AJK chapter of Mirwaiz-led Huriyat forum, Mohammad Umer Butt, Kashmiri activist, Prof.
Shugafta Ashraf, University of Kotli, Azad Kashmir, and Altaf Hussain Wani, Chairman of Kashmir Institute of International Relations.
The speakers said, India has failed to comply with the international standards of fair trial. Fair trial is one of the fundamentals of the Universal Declaration of human rights and other conventions, they added.
They said, India is misusing anti-terror legislation against the political leaders and civil society actors and the common man in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The draconian laws like Armed Forces Special Powers Act and Public Safety Act (PSA) are used to suppress the people’s legitimate right to self-determination, they said, adding, these laws have facilitated torture, enforced disappearances and other human rights violations and are obstructing the fair trial.
The speakers said, the people are held arbitrary without trial for years, which is against the international human rights standards.
They also denounced the continued detention of Kashmir leaders, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Aasiya Andrabi, Masarrat Aalam Butt, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Dr Qasim Fakhtoo, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai and others.—KMS
