Moin ul Haque, Ambassador of Pakistan to China Photo: Courtesy of the Embassy of Pakistan to China

Pakistan's Ambassador to China urged necessary actions be taken to ease the suffering of Kashmiri people, a year after India abolished the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

In an exclusive interview with the Global Times, Moin ul Haque, Pakistani Ambassador to China, called for global community to take actions to alleviate the suffering of the Kashmiri people. 

He emphasized that the Indian military siege of the Kashmiri people by what is now a de-facto police state has been ongoing for 365 days, with no end in sight. 

"For this year alone, around 200 innocent Kashmiris have been killed, around 50 cases of rape and molestation and nearly 1,000 cases of destruction of houses and property have been reported. In addition to that, nearly 2,200 civilians have been arrested," said Haque, who became the ambassador to China in early August. 

In a joint statement by 18 UN special rapporteurs on Tuesday, India and the international community were called upon to take urgent actions to resolve the shocking human rights situation in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK). If India will not initiate a probe into rights violations in IOJK, the global community should step up, it said.  

In UN annual report on Children and Armed Conflict released in June, the UN, "verified the killing and maiming of 15 children, between the ages of 1 and 17, by or during joint operations of the Central Reserve Police Force, the Indian Army [Rashtriya Rifles] and the Special Operations Group of the Jammu and Kashmir Police." 

Photo:VCG

It cited 68 instances of where children, between the ages of 9 and 17, have been detained by Indian security services in IOJK on national security-related charges, such as alleged association with armed groups.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also expressed concern in June over the continued use of pellet guns against children by the Indian security forces in occupied Kashmir. He urged India to stop torture and illegal detention of minors in the occupied valley. 

The international community and the UN should ensure that India revokes its illegal actions taken on and after August 5, 2019, said the ambassador. 

"[India's] actions have  threatened the regional peace and security," the ambassador said. 

"Pakistan expects the global community to play the role of honest broker in the dispute, and take concrete actions to ameliorate the sufferings of the Kashmiri people. We could only hope that the growing international condemnation would dissuade India's fascist religious-nationalist regime from their illegal acts," he said.
Newspaper headline: Urgent actions on Jammu, Kashmir needed