Pakistan welcomes UN rights office's report on Jammu and Kashmir, says situation in PoK not same as Gilgit-Baltistan

Islamabad: Pakistan on Monday welcomed the UN rights office’s report on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, but said there was no parallel between the human rights situation in Kashmir and the environment in PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan. [caption id=“attachment_6172821” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The Geneva-based Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which last year released its first-ever report on Kashmir, issued an ‘update’ of the 2018 report on Monday, claiming that “neither India nor Pakistan has taken any concrete steps to address the numerous concerns raised”. The report said the civilian casualties reported in Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) from May 2018 to April 2019 may be the highest in over a decade and called on the UN Human Rights Council to consider “the possible establishment of a commission of inquiry to conduct a comprehensive independent international investigations into allegations of human rights violations in Kashmir”. India on Monday lodged a strong protest with the UN rights office over the report, slamming it as a continuation of the earlier “false and motivated” narrative and violative of India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. India asserted that the report’s assertions are in violation of India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and ignore the core issue of cross-border terrorism. Pakistan Foreign Office welcomed the report but said there was no comparison between Kashmir and the PoK. While appreciating the report’s efforts to document the alleged human rights violations in Kashmir, Pakistan reiterated that “there is simply no parallel” between the human rights situation in the Valley and the prevailing environment in PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan. It claimed that unlike Kashmir which is the “most militarised zone in the world”, PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan remain open to foreign visitors. The Foreign Office said that the solution of Kashmir was essential for the security and stability of South Asia and beyond.