MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Masood Khan on Sunday called upon the Australian parliament, government and civil society to raise their voice against flagrant human rights violations in India-held Kashmir.

He made this appeal while talking to Lee Rhiannon, a former Australian senator and human rights activist, who is currently on a visit to Pakistan and Azad Kashmir on the invitation of the AJK president.

A senior leader of Austra­lian Greens, Ms Rhiannon was a senator from New South Wales between July 2011 and August 2018. Prior to her election to the Federal Parliament, she was a Greens New South Wales member of the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1999 and 2010.

She was frequently criticised by Indian media in the past for advocating protection of the human rights of the Kashmiri people.

Former senator says she would continue to speak on the need for a lasting solution to the issue

Appreciating her concern and support for the rights of Kashmiris, including their inalienable right to self-determination, the AJK president pointed out that Indian atrocities had intensified since July 2016 when Burhan Wani, a young pro-freedom leader in held Kashmir, was gunned down by Indian forces in a fake encounter.

The popular reaction over the martyrdom of Mr Wani was crushed by the occupation forces by the use of brute force, he said.

President Khan highlighted that the recent report on the human rights situation in held Kashmir released by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had also asked New Delhi to respect the right to self-determination of the people of Kashmir, protected under international law.

He sought support of the former senator for two key recommendations by the OHCHR report namely constitution of a Commission of Inquiry (COI) by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate human rights violations in held Kashmir and repeal of draconian laws in the territory.

Australia, he said, should call upon India to give access to the COI and withdraw black laws — Armed Forces Special Powers Act and Public Safety Act in particular — being used by Indian forces with impunity to brutalise the freedom seeking Kashmiris.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms Rhiannon expressed gratitude to President Khan for inviting her to AJK and said she had undertaken the visit to fully understand the dynamics of the Jammu and Kashmir issue.

According to an official handout, she stressed that awareness about serious human rights situation in India-held Kashmir should be raised at the global level and assured that she would continue to speak on the plight of Kashmiris as well as the need for a lasting solution to the issue.

In response to a question by Ms Rhiannon, the AJK president said that the UN-mandated plebiscite could be organised at a short notice as soon as India withdrew its opposition to the move.

Modalities for the plebiscite did not pose any difficulty, he maintained.

The president informed the senator that AJK was bearing a caseload of 40,000 refugees without any international assistance.

The AJK president also apprised Ms Rhiannon about the moves made by India to change demography in held Kashmir through illicit transfer of population, proposed illegal settlements, granting of residential rights to the so-called West Pakistan refugees and giving Kashmiri property to the non-Kashmiris.

He informed her that the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan, to which Australia has also contributed peacekeepers from time to time, was dispatching its reports regularly to the UN Secretariat but the same were neither being submitted to the UN Secretary General nor circulated to the Security Council members.

Mr Khan maintained that though for Pakistan and the Kashmiris the preferred mode for settlement of Kashmir issue was implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions, yet they had always been open to any process under Chapter VI of the UN Charter, including negotiations, third party mediation and other peaceful means for pacific settlement of the dispute.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2018