Geneva rights caucus exposes Pak terrorist activities in J & K - The Times of India

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Pakistan is getting exposed at international human rights
platforms for its terrorist and mercenary activities in Jammu and
Kashmir, according to an Indian delegation on its return from
Geneva.

Govind Narain Srivastava, director-general of the International
Institute of Non-Aligned Studies, who attended the 54th session
of the United National Human Rights Commission at Geneva, said
that like every year, the Kashmir issue continued to be an
important issue at the Switzerland conference.

Mr Srivastava said that Pakistan's minister of external affairs
Gauhar Ayoob Khan raised the Kashmir issue on the agenda of "self-
determination". Mr Khan openly claimed his country's
"association" with Kashmiris and links with "Mujahideen".

According to Mr Srivastava, Mr Khan's support to the "Mujahideen"
which had been carrying out terrorist activities in Jammu and
Kashmir provoked several international NGOs, including the
International Progress Organisation (Vienna), European Union of
Public Relations (Italy), International Institute for Peace
(Vienna), International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies
(Geneva), Afro-Asian Peoples Solidarity (Egypt), World Federation
of Trade Unions (Prague), who came out against fundamentalist
organisations like Lashkar-e-Toiba, the armed wing of the Markez-
ul-Dwwa-ul-Arshad and Harkat- ul-Ansar operating from Pakistan
with Islamabad's support.

The massacre of 23 Hindus at Vandhama on January 25,1998, and of
about 15 Hindus in Udhampur district of Kashmir a few days ago
figured at the Geneva session.

Addressing the session, Mr Srivastava painted out that some
sections were engaged in a misconceived struggle for self-
determination in the name of human rights and unleashing the
forces of anarchy.

"It is necessary that genuine rights of minorities be protected
but at the same time they should be made to realise that their
welfare was best served through harmonious co-existence among
people of diverse ethnic or religious lineages.

Ms Vanessa Clerckx, the representative of the European Union of
Public Relations, told the Geneva conference that the Lashkar-e-
Toiba was preaching the idea that they were the "only one worthy
of living whereas others who did not accept their religious
beliefs were to be exterminated."

The Lashkar-e-Toiba, she said, had declared that Hindus and Jews
were enemies of Islam. "Such a perception, when allowed by the
state of Pakistan to be spread from its territory, constituted a
serious violation of human rights treaties and declarations."

Sybille Rupprecht, the International Institute for Peace
representative, said that the concept of self-determination
avidly espoused by Pakistan was responsible for instigating
violence in Kashmir. This idea was increasingly being exposed
and transformed into "an instrument of undeclared war."

India and Pakistan should realise that. seeking to
internationalise what was at its core a local issue would only
bring back the colonial interventions and interests, said Ms
Ludovica Vergannasi, the representative of the International
Progress Organisation, adding that the two countries were
reminded of the policy of divide and rule and its ramifications.

Professor P.C. Patanjali of Delhi University said the Indian
government should mount diplomatic pressures to prevent Pakistan
>from misusing international human rights and other platforms to
raise the Kashmir issue. Mr Genei Shimoji, of the World
Federation of Trade Unions, said the concept of development
implied overall realisation of the potential of human beings. The
arms race that had marked contemporary history was the worst
threat to the realisation of the right to development.

"'Me continued unrest in Kashmir fuelled by Pakistan through
various means denied the people of Kashmir their right to
development," Mr Shimoji added.

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