ISLAMABAD - Expressing deep shock and grave concern on the recent escalation in the continuing violence in Indian Occupied Kashmir, Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday rang up United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and asked him to weigh in and help stop Indian brutalities in the valley.

In the stepped up brutalities in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir some 15 innocent Kashmiris were killed in direct firing of Indian forces and leaving over 300 injured, some of them seriously, when they were protesting for their rights.

The Prime Minister termed the situation in IOK unacceptable, adding the imposition of Presidential Rule in IOK has the danger of further aggravating the already serious situation.

Jammu and Kashmir dispute is not a bilateral issue between Pakistan and India but an internationally recognised dispute and an outstanding agenda item in the UN Security Council.

The Prime Minister urged the Secretary General to weigh in and to stop India from perpetrating state repression, violence and brute force against Kashmiri youth, women and children.

“India is involved in serious violations of human rights in the held valley, UN should play its effective role for the solution of the decades long problem,” PM urged Guterres.

In line with recommendations of the June 2018 report of UN Human Rights Commissioner on Human Rights in Kashmir, the Prime Minister asked that the Commission of Inquiry should be dispatched urgently to investigate this grave situation.

The Prime Minister reiterated the proposal to appoint a Special UN Representative for resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

Earlier today, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Fawad Chaudhry, while briefing the media after the meeting of the federal cabinet, had said, PM would raise the issue of Kashmir with United Nations’ Secretary General.

It may be recalled that, the Senate of Pakistan and National Assembly had already passed unanimously resolutions, strongly condemning the recent barbarism by the Indian security forces in Occupied Kashmir that claimed lives of a number of innocent Kashmiris in Pulwama.

In senate, the resolution was moved by Pakistan People’s Party’s Sherry Rehman, while Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan, had tabled the resolution in National Assembly, that expressed severe distress over the recent wave of state terrorism in the held valley.

The international community was urged to take notice of the rights violations in the Indian held Kashmir.