Mr. President,

The grave situation of gross and systemic violations of human rights and denial of fundamental freedoms in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir requires Council’s urgent attention.

2. The Indian government has broken its own record of brutality in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IoK), not only in target killing but also by indiscriminately killing over 100 young unarmed Kashmiri protestors. The Indian forces have blinded hundreds of Kashmiris, including children, and injured over 16,000 protesters with live ammunition, pellet guns and gas shells. The world witnessed its first “mass blinding” in Kashmir, which compelled the New York Times to label the year 2016 as a “Year of dead eyes” in Kashmir.
3. The continuing Indian brutalities and unprecedented violence by Indian occupation forces in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir since July 2016 are crimes against humanity. Indian barbarities are a cause of deep anguish and pain for the Kashmiris and a slur on respect for human rights globally.
4. India has banned the social, electronic and print media to prevent reports of brutalities against Kashmiris from reaching the outside world. Despite this media blackout, the atrocities being committed in IoK are being reported in Indian and international media. These brutalities are also being increasingly criticized in many parliaments around the world. Political analysts and members of civil society from across the globe have concluded that the large scale uprising, which is going on in IoK, involving mostly young unarmed Kashmiris confronting fully armed Indian occupation forces, clearly shows that Kashmir is a burning issue requiring urgent International attention.
5. In their desperation to hide the reality of the indigenous uprising of young Kashmiris, including by tens of thousands of girls and boys, India is trying to equate it with terrorism. The facts have repeatedly come out proving that indigenous Kashmiris were killed by Indian occupation forces in ‘fake encounters’ and ‘buried’. Nobody believes that thousands of young boys and girls, who have been agitating ceaselessly since July, 2016 are terrorists.
6. The people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir are losing faith in Indian democracy since in the recent sham by-election in Srinagar on 9th April. The abysmally low voter turnout of 7% collapsing to 2% during re-polling is the lowest in 30 years.
7. Despite Indian state terrorism and repression the steadfast resolve displayed by the Kashmiris sends a clear message to India. How many more Kashmiris would India kill so mercilessly? If India thinks that by killing more and more Kashmiri youth India would suppress the Kashmiris movement for their right of self determination, it has not learnt any lessons from history.
8. We call upon the international community to urge India to put an immediate end to the ongoing bloodshed of innocent Kashmiris and behave as a responsible member of the international community by honoring its commitments and obligations under the International human rights and humanitarian law.

I thank you.