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Islamabad: United Nations experts have expressed concerns that India\u2019s \u201cunlawful use of force\u201d on Pakistan\u2019s territory in response to the April 22 Pahalgam attack in occupied Jammu & Kashmir appears to have \u201cviolated the rights to life and security of person\u201d.<\/p>\n
According to Kashmir Media Service, this observation by UN special rapporteurs was made in a report dated October 16, which was made public on December 15. The report outlined India\u2018s military response to the Pahalgam attack, as well as New Delhi\u2019s decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in \u201cabeyance\u201d following the incident.<\/p>\n
The five UN experts who compiled the report also observed that New Delhi\u2019s actions that \u201cmay be taken to disrupt the flow of water to Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty\u201d appeared to risk violating the rights to work and livelihood, an adequate standard of living \u2014 including the rights to water and food \u2014 a clean, healthy and sustainable environment and development.<\/p>\n
The Pahalgam attack on April 22 resulted in the death of 26 people. While New Delhi blamed Islamabad for the attack without evidence, Pakistan denied involvement, with the foreign ministry questioning the credibility of India\u2019s account of the events and saying it was \u201creplete with fabrications\u201d. A day after the attack, India decided to immediately hold the IWT in \u201cabeyance\u201d. For its part, Pakistan termed any attempt to suspend its water share under the treaty an \u201cact of war\u201d, noting the treaty had no provision for unilateral suspension.<\/p>\n
Roughly two weeks after the Pahalgam incident, India launched a series of strikes in the early hours of May 7 across Pakistan, an act which led to the worst between Pakistan and India. Both sides used fighter jets, missiles, artillery and drones during the four-day conflict, killing dozens of people, before agreeing to a ceasefire.<\/p>\n
UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism Ben Saul, UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to a Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment Astrid Puentes Riano, UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions Morris Tidball-Binz and UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, as well as an independent expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order George Katrougalos discussed these events in detail in their October report.<\/p>\n
The UN experts noted that while India maintained it had exercised its \u201cright to respond and preempt, as well as deter \u2026 cross-border attacks\u201d by launching strikes in Pakistan, New Delhi \u201cdid not notify the UN Security Council that its operation was in the exercise of the right to self-defence under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, under the procedures required by that article\u201c.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe note further that under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter and customary international law, India may only exercise the right of self-defence in foreign territory where it is necessary and proportionate in response to an armed attack committed by a foreign state, whether directly by state forces or where a state \u2018sends\u2019 non-state forces to attack,\u201d they added. The experts further highlighted that Article 51 required \u201cthe victim state\u201d to report the armed attack to the Security Council. \u201cThere is no separate right to unilaterally use military force in foreign territory in order to counter terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n
The experts also said, \u201cWe are concerned that India has not disclosed credible evidence that the militants who committed the Pahalgam attack were sent to attack India by the Government of Pakistan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reiterating that India had not notified the Security Council of any claim of self-defence in carrying out strikes in Pakistan, they experts observed: \u201cIt appears that India has violated the prohibition on the use of force under article 2(4) of the UN Charter, and may itself have committed an armed attack on Pakistan, entitling Pakistan to exercise self-defence under Article 51 of the Charter, risking escalation that could pose grave danger to life in both states.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe unlawful use of force would consequently constitute a violation of the right to life under Article 6 of the ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights),\u201c the experts said. They further noted that \u201cthe illegal use of force on foreign territory would also constitute a violation of the foreign state\u2019s sovereignty and the duty of non-intervention in a foreign state\u201d.<\/p>\n
Discussing the \u201cabeyance\u201d of IWT by India in a unilateral action, the UN experts highlighted its significance for Pakistan. They noted that rivers irrigate 18 million hectares of farmland in the country (about 80 percent of Pakistan\u2019s arable land), particularly in the food bowl provinces of Punjab and Sindh, contributing 24 per cent of Pakistan\u2019s gross domestic product. \u201cThe rivers are thus vital in providing food security and livelihoods within Pakistan\u2019s population of 240 million people. Limited water storage in Pakistan means that it relies on the unimpeded flow of river water.<\/p>\n
The experts further said that the duty to respect the right to water required refraining from any activity that denied or limited equal access to adequate water, and maintaining access to existing water supplies. They also expressed the concern that the suspension or termination of the IWT could violate the \u201cright of self-determination of peoples and the right to development in Pakistan in relation to their common water resources\u201d. They further said that there did not appear to be \u201cany valid international legal grounds for holding the IWT in abeyance so as to justify the \u201cpotential interferences in human rights in Pakistan of disrupting the flow of water assured under the treaty\u201d.<\/p>\n
They said that India had not disclosed \u201ccredible evidence\u201d that Pakistan had committed an internationally wrongful act by carrying out, or diligently failing to prevent, the Pahalgam attack, and that such threats continue, thereby justifying countermeasures to prevent the continuing violation.<\/p>\n
Kashmir dispute must be resolved for lasting peace<\/p>\n
The UN experts further expressed concern that disputes over \u201ccross-border terrorism\u201d and water-sharing may persist as long as the \u201cunderlying dispute\u201d about the status of occupied Kashmir was not \u201cpeacefully settled in accordance with international law.<\/p>\n
In this regard, the UN experts posed six questions to the Indian government. They called on the Indian government to provide comments on the aforementioned allegations and to indicate whether it would provide \u201creparation and apology for violations of the right to life resulting from the unlawful use of force in Pakistan\u201d. They also asked for an explanation for whether India would fulfil its obligations under the IWT \u201cin good faith\u201d and refrain from taking measures that interfere with Pakistan\u2019s legal rights under the treaty and consequently the human rights of those in Pakistan dependent on the flow of water. They also sought clarification on the measures India was taking or planned to take to prevent \u201charming human rights\u201d as a result of disrupting the IWT. They further asked whether India would peacefully settle any disputes with Pakistan over the IWT and only seek to modify it in accordance with its provisions on modification. The UN experts also sought an explanation on the steps which will be taken to pursue a peaceful settlement of the occupied Kashmir issue, in accordance with international law and the right of self-determination.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile awaiting a reply, we urge that all necessary interim measures be taken to halt the alleged violations and prevent their re-occurrence and in the event that the investigations support or suggest the allegations to be correct, to ensure the accountability of any person(s) responsible for the alleged violations,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad: United Nations experts have expressed concerns that India\u2019s \u201cunlawful use of force\u201d on Pakistan\u2019s territory in response to the April 22 Pahalgam attack in occupied Jammu & Kashmir appears to have \u201cviolated the rights to life and security of person\u201d. According to Kashmir Media Service, this observation by UN special rapporteurs was made in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":190715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-190712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan","tag-top-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/12\/7-3.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190712"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":190716,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190712\/revisions\/190716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}