Kashmiri delegation, diaspora in Europe protest outside UN office in Geneva
Demand end to HR violations in IIOJK, implementation of UN resolutions on Kashmir
Geneva: A Kashmiri delegation and Kashmiri diaspora based in Europe today staged a protest demonstration outside the United Nations office in Geneva, demanding an immediate end to human rights violations in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and implementation of the long-pending UN resolutions on the Kashmir dispute.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the protesters drew international community’s attention to the serious consequences of India’s imperialist presence in Kashmir and called for greater international scrutiny of the human rights situation in the occupied territory and concrete measures to ensure accountability.
They described the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination as an inalienable right and urged the UN Security Council to take effective steps to implement its resolutions recognizing the right of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to decide their political future.
The protesters expressed serious concern over India’s “imperialist designs” in the region, saying the Indian government’s pursuit of a Hindu nationalist agenda in Kashmir, including land grab, interference in religious affairs and demographic engineering, were aimed at changing demographic composition of the territory.
They also condemned the continued application of repressive laws, including the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Public Safety Act (PSA) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), saying Indian authorities were using these laws to suppress the voices of civil society activists, human rights defenders and political leaders.
The protesters expressed grave concern over the systematic suppression of political dissent in IIOJK, saying that political leaders, activists and human rights defenders continued to face harassment, threats, intimidation and prolonged detention.
”The use of restrictive laws and coercive measures had created an atmosphere of fear, severely constraining political activity, freedom of expression and the legitimate exercise of fundamental rights”, they said, adding that the prolonged incarceration of political leaders reflected a broader pattern of suppressing dissent and silencing voices demanding political and human rights reforms.
Citing the case of Kashmiri political leader Yasin Malik and other prisoners as examples of judicial repression, they said that legal and judicial mechanisms were being used to silence voices advocating the Kashmiri people’s political rights. They called for an end to the misuse of judicial processes and urged the international community to closely monitor the trials, detention conditions and treatment of Kashmiri political prisoners.
The protesters further condemned India’s portrayal of its development initiatives in the territory, describing them as part of a broader settler-colonial project. They argued that prolonged militarization, including the militarization of pilgrimage routes, was exacerbating environmental degradation and heightening climate-related risks in the ecologically fragile Himalayan region.
The demonstration concluded with renewed calls for international accountability, an end to human rights violations and meaningful action by the United Nations to facilitate the realization of the Kashmiri people’s right to determine their own political future.
Former Azad Jammu and Kashmir minister Chaudhry Parvez Ashraf, Chairman of the Kashmir Institute of International Relations Altaf Hussain Wani, President of Kashmir Peace Forum France Zahid Hashmi, APHC-AJK leader Advocate Parvez Ahmad Shah, Dr Raja Sajjad Lateef, Shamim Shawl, Dr Shagufta Ashraf and other Kashmiri representatives addressed the protest.
