UNSC should resolve issue keeping Kashmiris’ human rights at centre: AI

LONDON (92 News) – Amnesty International Secretary General Kumi Naidoo has said the people of Occupied Jammu and Kashmir should not be treated as pawns in a political crisis, and the international community must come together to call for their human rights to be respected. “For the first time in decades the United Nations Security Council is taking up the issue of Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Members of the council need to remember that their mandate is to protect international peace and security – and they should seek to resolve the situation in a way that puts the human rights of the people in this troubled region at its centre. “We reiterate our calls to the Indian government to act in accordance with international human rights law and standards towards people living in Jammu and Kashmir, including in relation to arrests and detentions of political opponents, and the rights to liberty and freedom of movement. “The actions of the Indian government have thrown ordinary people’s lives into turmoil, subjecting them to unnecessary pain and distress on top of the years of human rights violations they have already endured.”

India abusing ‘lawless’ detention act in IOK: Amnesty International

On August 13, the Indian government is widely misusing a law allowing for detention without trial in the Occupied Kashmir, and fuelling animosity with it, the human rights group Amnesty International said. The Public Safety Act (PSA) was a ‘lawless law’ under which the authorities hold children, old people and the disabled, and it should be scrapped, the group said. “This act is contributing to inflaming tensions between the state authorities and local populace and must be immediately repealed,” said Aakar Patel, head of Amnesty International India. India has long defended the 41-year-old PSA as essential to maintain law and order in the Muslim-majority region where freedom fighters have been battling the Indian security forces since the late 1980s. The law allows for detention for up to two years if a person is deemed acting ‘in any manner prejudicial to the security of the state’. Amnesty said that was a breach of international human rights law. Police did not let the group launch its report in Srinagar, citing the ‘law and order’ situation, a spokesman for the right group said.