Seeking world community's attention towards the unresolved issue of Kashmir, the vice chairman JK National Front Altaf Hussain Wani has said that the long running conflict was a major cause of human suffering and rights violations in the region.Speaking during general debate on agenda item 2 at UNHRC session in Geneva, Wani said that given the highly vulnerable situation Kashmir merits the urgent attention of this Council (UNHRC). Wani who is leading Kashmir delegation to Geneva while referring to the UNHCR commissioner's opening remarks said that there were many lessons but most pressing one was that no human suffering should be left behind, un_addressed. Wani observed that Commissioner's statement was an eye opener for citizens everywhere.He said that the workable space in which we function as one community was under attack. "And yes, the walls that divide, literally, are returning and hate is becoming mainstreamed", he said. "It is encouraging that several countries are working on innovative, human rights-based approaches to challenges, including economic, social and cultural rights.
But that is not enough", the APHC leader said adding that it was a collective failure of all of us that those parts of the world were in turmoil today that were supposed to be developing. "And those nations that hold power and wealth are involved in prolonging wars and disputes instead of resolving them", he said.He said that the Commissioner had rightly pointed out that torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, forced evictions and the destruction of schools and entire neighbourhoods continue unabated in many regions of the developing world. This he said was not happening just in Syria, as the Commissioner highlighted eloquently, or in Iraq, Libya and in many parts of Africa, and Afghanistan, but there were also festering disputes that suffer the same fate. Referring to the festering K-dispute Wani said, "Kashmir happens to be the oldest international conflict on the agenda of UN Security Council". He said that Commissioner's statement should give us strong reason to revisit the questions of recently-discovered mass graves, the summary executions, the arbitrary detentions, and the restrictions on the freedoms of speech, assembly and association that exist today in Indian-occupied Kashmir. He said that 19-year-old promising cricketer, Naeem Bhat, who was recognized in Kashmir and in India as an ambassador for peace, and was feted by Indian officials, was killed in cold blood by the Indian army for the simple act of participating in a peaceful protest by the student. (KNS)