Islamabad    -   Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Thursday said that international organisation for human rights “Genocide Watch” has also confirmed Pakistan’s stance over the occupied Kashmir.

US-based Genocide Watch has issued an alert and urged the United Nations and its members to warn India not to commit genocide in Indian occupied Kashmir.

Genocide Watch while demanding of United Nations (UN) to stop India from commiting genocide in occupied Kashmir said that several hundreds and thousands of Indian soldiers are deployed in Kashmir Valley. Minority Indian military force is ruling over majority Muslim population and massacre of Kashmiris can start in Occupied Kashmir.

FM Qureshi in his statement said that Genocide Watch has confirmed what Pakistan has been saying consistently over the situation in the occupied Kashmir.

He said mass killings are being carried out in the occupied Kashmir and Genocide Watch has issued an alert after witnessing all the situation and circumstances.

FM said that situation in the occupied Kashmir became worse to that extent that international organization had to issue an alert.

“People take matters into their own hands when there is no food, medicines available and the elderly and children are in a dire situation,” Qureshi said.

The foreign minister said there had been a call given in occupied Kashmir to defy curfew after Friday prayers. “What will happen next? They [India] will try to subdue this with bullets. There will be a massacre there.”

Qureshi added he would be speaking with the Human Rights Commissioner of the United Nations and had also written a letter.

In its alert, Genocide Watch stated “On August 5, the Indian President revoked the Special Autonomous Status of India Administered Jammu and Kashmir under under Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution of India. India has over 600,000 troops in Kashmir. Movement of people and freedom of the press are restricted. India has cut off internet communications.”

Explaining the reasons behind issuing the alert, the organisation also recalled the Indian atrocities in Kashmir where occupation forces have already committed genocide and massacres, killing thousands of people with impunity.

The organisation has also given a list of risk factors for a genocide that are early warnings of massacres in occupied Kashmir:

1. Prior genocidal massacres and continuing impunity for such killings;

2. Continued armed conflict between India and Pakistan over border areas in Kashmir;

3. An exclusionary ideology of “Hindutva” – India as Hindu nation – by Modi’s ruling BJP;

4. Authoritarian military rule without legal restraints imposed by civilian Indian officials;

5. Rule by a minority military force (Hindus and Sikhs) over majority Muslim citizens;

6. Cut-off of communications and outside access by internet, media, and trade;

7. Widespread violations of basic human rights – torture, rape, 2-year detentions without charge, arbitrary arrests and deportations of Muslim political and human rights leaders.

Genocide Watch’s stages of the genocidal process are also far advanced:

1. Classification: Hindu and Sikh Indian Army “us” vs. Kashmiri Muslim civilian “them;”

2. Symbolization: Muslims have Muslim names (on ID cards), Kashmiri language, dress, mosques;

3. Discrimination: Hindu pandits were economically dominant until 1990; BJP reasserted Hindu power;

4. Dehumanization: Muslims are called “terrorists”, “separatists,” “criminals,” “insurgents;”

5. Organization: 600,000 heavily armed Indian Army troops and police dominate Kashmir;

6. Polarization: Modi and the BJP incite anti-Muslim hatred; social media spread falsehoods;

7. Preparation: The Indian Army occupies Kashmir; BJP leaders speak of the “Final Solution” for Kashmir;

8. Persecution: Kashmiri Muslims are locked down, subject to arrest, torture, rape, and murder;

UN HUMAN RIGHTS EXPERTS

As communication blackout in Indian occupied Kashmir entered its 19th day on Thursday, the human rights experts of the United Nations called upon India to end the crackdown on freedom of expression, access to information and peaceful protests.

Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion David Kaye (USA), Special Rapporteur on human rights Michel Forst (France), Chair-Rapporteur Working Group on Enforced Disappearances Bernard Duhaime, Special Rapporteur on right to peaceful assembly Clement Nyaletsossi Voule and Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions Agnes Callamard expressed concern over the human rights situation after Indian parliament revoked the constitutionally-mandated status of Jammu and Kashmir.

Reports have described a near total communications blackout in Jammu and Kashmir since the evening of August 4th with internet, mobile phone networks, and cable and Kashmiri television channels cut off.

The Special Rapporteurs said the shutdown of internet and telecommunication networks, without justification from the government, were inconsistent with the fundamental norms of necessity and proportionality. “The blackout is a form of collective punishment of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, without even a pretext of a precipitating offence,” they said.

The government of India has also imposed a curfew across Jammu and Kashmir, bringing in massive numbers of troops to enforce restrictions on the freedom of movement and of peaceful assembly, particularly in the Kashmir Valley.

“We remind the Indian authorities that the restrictions imposed by the Indian government are intrinsically disproportionate, because they preclude considerations of the specific circumstances of each proposed assembly,” said the experts.

At the same time, information received suggests that there has been an increase in the arrest of political figures, journalists, human rights defenders, protesters and others.

The experts said they were deeply concerned by reports that security forces were conducting night raids on private homes leading to the arrests of young people. “Such detentions could constitute serious human rights violations,” the experts said.

“We are gravely concerned about allegations that the whereabouts of some of those detained is not known as well as the general heightened risk of enforced disappearances, which may proliferate against the backdrop of mass arrests and restricted access to the internet and other communications networks,” they added.

The Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups are part of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world.

Qureshi urges intervention as genocide alert issued for IOK