UN assesses human rights in Kashmir

A United Nations rapporteur has arrived in Indian-administered Kashmir to assess the human rights status in the disputed Himalayan region.

Margaret Sekaggya, appointed in 2008 as UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, said on Wednesday that her one-day visit aimed at an objective and impartial assessment of human rights defenders in Kashmir and developing cooperation with authorities, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Pro-independence leaders hope that he will take into consideration what they call violations of human rights.

The UN envoy disapproved of India’s efforts at categorizing the Kashmiris as terrorists just because they desire to have an independent government.

Veteran Kashmiri Hurriyet leader Sayed Ali Gilani has called on the UN to launch an inquiry into human rights violations in Kashmir and bring those in charge before a court.

India faced one of its biggest challenges over the disputed territory last summer when at least 112 people were shot dead by security forces during demonstrations.

Kashmir has been the cause of major tension between India and Pakistan for six decades and accounted for two of the three wars the neighbors have fought since their independence from the British rule in 1947.

It is the first time Indian government has agreed to a visit by the UN special human rights rapporteur to the tense region.

Sekaggya is the second rapporteur to visit Kashmir officially in its last 20 years of rebellion against New Deli’s rule in the Himalayan region.