WASHINGTON – Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Jalil Abbas Jilani has handed over a dossier to the US on India’s gross human rights violations in Kashmir, as the State Department said that Washington was continuing efforts to reduce South Asian tensions.
“We urge calm and restraint on both sides. We understand, as we said last week, that the militaries are in touch. We believe that continued communication is vital to reduce these tensions,” State Department spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters on Monday.
When pointedly asked by an Indian journalist about India’s so-called surgical strikes across the Line of Control in Azad Kashmir last week, Trudeau refused to confirm or deny whether the strike actually happened. “I’m not going to speak to any reports of these incidents.”
Trudeau said the US was emphasising on regional stability and security in its dialogues with Indian and Pakistani leaders.
“I think what you would take a look at being discussed is regional stability and regional security. One of the things I think we all need to focus on is conflicts or issues or rising tension are not contained to any specific region,” she said.
“We are in favour of any reduction of tensions that both sides agree to in this particular instance. We have strong ties with both Pakistan and India, and we’ll engage on that basis,” Trudeau added.
She said the US position on Kashmir has not changed. “I would say that our position on Kashmir has not changed, and I would remind you that we are having conversations with both countries on the importance of reducing the tensions in the region,” she said.
Meanwhile, a Pakistani embassy statement said Ambassador Jilani Monday met with Richard Olson, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, at the State Department and handed over the dossier containing information on the atrocities committed by the Indian security forces in Occupied Kashmir.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had presented a similar dossier to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York last month.
Ambassador Jilani emphasised that the international community, especially the United States, “should take note of the inhuman and degrading treatment being meted out to the innocent civilians including the women, children, elderly and patients, in the Occupied Kashmir.”
Prime Minister’s Special Envoys Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed and Member National Assembly Dr. Shazra Mansab also met Olson and shared a “carefully documented evidence of Indian brutalities and the systematic human rights violations being perpetrated by the Indian forces against the innocent civilians,” the Pakistani embassy said.
The two Pakistani envoys said the India-controlled Kashmir was the most heavily militarised zone on earth.
Ambassador Jilani, according to a statement, said, “The US, being a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, should impress upon India to immediately end the state-sponsored terrorism against innocent civilians who have been indiscriminately targeted by Indian forces.”
The Pakistani diplomat also stressed that the right to self-determination was granted to the people of Kashmir by the United Nations which could not be unilaterally denied by India.
“Ambassador Jilani further underscored that the international community must ensure that India as a member of the United Nations, should allow access to international human rights and humanitarian organisations to assess the factual situation in the IoK (Indian-occupied Kashmir).
The statement said the Pakistani diplomat recalling Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s recent statement that Kashmiris and Pakistanis were inseparable and reiterated that Pakistan would continue to extend all possible moral, political and diplomatic support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir for realisation of their legally promised right to self-determination.
In their meeting with Ambassador Olson, Mushahid Hussain Syed and Dr Shazra Mansab apprised him of the continued suppression of Kashmiris’ legitimate right to self-determination.
The US side was informed that the ongoing people’s movement in Kashmir was completely indigenous and spontaneous.
They highlighted how the use of pellet guns and other prohibited weapons were being used by the Indian authorities to suppress the voice of the Kashmiri people. Besides, fundamental rights of Kashmiri civilians including their right to assemble, worship and practise their faith were being denied.http://nation.com.pk/national/05-Oct-2016/dossier-on-indian-brutalities-presented-to-obama-admin
Comments are closed.