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Updated 20 Jun, 2018 10:36pm

UN's decision to probe rights abuses in India-held Kashmir affirms Pakistan's stance: Foreign Office

Pakistan on Wednesday welcomed the United Nations' recommendation to form an inquiry commission to investigate human rights violations committed by Indian security forces in held Kashmir.

Pakistan's permanent representative to UN Farukh Amil said this while speaking at the 38th session of the UN Human Rights Council at the organisation's headquarters in Geneva.

He said that the recent UN report on rights abuse in held Kashmir "reaffirms Pakistan’s well-known position on the grave human rights abuses committed by India", read a statement issued by the Foreign Office.

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"Excessive use of force, indiscriminate killing of civilians, blindings by pellet guns, cases of mass graves and sexual violence by India in Jammu and Kashmir constitute crimes against humanity, which must be investigated," the Foreign Office quoted Amil as saying.

Amil also condemned the recent murder of a Kashmiri journalist Shujaat Bukhari, who was the editor-in-chief of a leading English newspaper, Rising Kashmir.

The Pakistani ambassador also welcomed UN's call to hold a political dialogue to reach a solution to the Kashmir dispute that would be acceptable to all concerned parties.

Last week, UN's human rights office released its first-ever report on alleged rights violations committed by India in the disputed territory.

UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein had recommended that a Commission of Inquiry — that is one of the UN's highest-level probes, generally reserved for major crises like the Syria conflict — be established to "conduct a comprehensive independent international investigation into allegations of human rights violations in Kashmir".

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