Pakistan 'expresses concern' over Kashmir, writes to UN

Pakistan has shot off letters to the UN Secretary-General, the Security Council President, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Secretary-General of the OIC, expressing “serious concern” over the violence in Kashmir.

Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz has addressed letters to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, President of the UN Security Council Koro Bessho, Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Iyad bin Amin Madani and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein to express Pakistan’s “serious concern on the alarming situation” in Kashmir.

An official statement said today that the letters were written to draw “attention to the brutal killings of innocent civilians and grave violations of the fundamental human rights of the Kashmiris....”

“In his letters to the UN Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council, the Adviser noted that in these times of democracy and accountability, the international community, led by the United Nations, cannot remain passive to the callous behaviour and grave violations of human rights by India” in Kashmir over the last many decades, the statement said.

Aziz noted that non-resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute was a constant source of tension and instability in the region and a threat to international peace and security.

Continuing to needle India on the Kashmir issue, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today also declared slain Hizbul commander Burhan Wani as a “martyr” and said July 19 will be observed as ‘black day’ to protest “atrocities” against Kashmiris by Indian security forces.