UN releases first of its kind report on rights status in Kashmir, PoK

The UN today released the first of its kind report on alleged human rights violations in both "Indian-administered and Pakistan-administered Kashmir" and sought an international inquiry into these abuses.

The global human rights watch body also asked Pakistan to end its "misuse" of anti-terror legislation to persecute peaceful activists and quash dissent.

Asserting that there was an "urgent need" to address the past and ongoing human rights violations, the report said, "any resolution to the political situation in Kashmir should entail a commitment to ending the cycles of violence and accountability for past and current human rights violations."
The report said, "the people on both sides of the Line of Control have been detrimentally impacted and suffer from limitations or denial of a range of human rights."
The UN "Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Kashmir: Developments in the Indian State of J-K from June 2016 to April 2018, and General Human Rights Concerns in Azad J-K and Gilgit-Baltistan" also noted since the late 1980s, "a variety of armed groups has been actively operating in the Indian state of J-K."
The report also sought repealing of the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 "urgently" and also "immediately remove the requirement for prior central government permission to prosecute security forces personnel accused of human rights violations in civilian courts."