Indias HR violations | The Express Tribune

New Delhi’s human rights excesses and extra-judicial muscles were articulately pointed out at the UN, as experts expressed their serious reservations and called for remedial measures. The charge-sheet, prepared by independent analysts at the world body, came in the backdrop of the April 2025 Pahalgam attack in Indian-occupied Kashmir, which killed more than 26 tourists and triggered a four-day standoff with Pakistan, pushing the region to the brink of nuclear confrontation. India, nonetheless, had an axe to grind at home as it launched a ruthless crackdown on besieged Kashmiris, detaining more than 2,800 people without any legal recourse.

The oracles duly pointed out that besides holding them incommunicado, they were subjected to torture apart from demolishing their homes. This was tantamount to genocide and in blatant violation of international law and the constitutional guarantees India claims to uphold. The UN has literally indicted India on human rights violations, and simply laid bare a fact that the Hindutva-regime had been concealing for long. It was fair in pointing out that even lawyers, journalists and civil society activists were not spared by India as they came under the spotlight.

Discriminations and violations of fundamental rights are a new-normal in occupied territories. The episode has seen a new-high since August 5, 2019, when the Indian parliament unilaterally abrogated Article 370 and 35-A, denying the Kashmiris their guaranteed constitutional rights. Change of demography, delimitation of constituencies, scrapping of jobs quota reserved for locals, and encouraging people from other Indian states to settle in Kashmir is the new modus operandi.

The UN observers must be heeded if broad-based stability is to be restored – both in the occupied territories and within the wider bilateral context. This is why the UN panel called for respecting international human rights law while combating terrorism, so that justice could be assured for men under the yoke of neo-imperialism. The advice that both India and Pakistan should resolve the Kashmir dispute and bring an end to the destructive cycle of cross-border violence cannot be ignored any further.