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Business Recorder
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Business Recorder
Systemic use of torture
EDITORIAL: On the June 26 'International Day in Support of Victims of Torture', Pakistan's Foreign Office issued an important statement, emphasising the persistent global challenges in eradicating torture and reaffirming Islamabad's commitment to upholding human dignity. The statement expressed grave concern about the 'widespread and systemic use of torture as an instrument of oppression in situations of foreign occupation,' drawing particular attention to the plight of those enduring brutal repression in Palestine and Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). Since October 2023, much of the world has watched in horror as Israel continues its relentless genocidal campaign in Gaza. Yet, while these atrocities unfold, the US-led Western nations — who frequently present themselves as the defenders of human rights everywhere in the world — have not only been passive observers but active enablers. They have supplied Israel with weapons and financial support to continue violence and the systematic destruction of Gaza. Despite the existence of international treaties and conventions, torture remains a widespread tool of oppression, particularly in regions under occupation. The ongoing situations in Palestine and IIOJK — the modern world's two longest occupations — serve as tragic evidence to this reality. In these territories, arbitrary detentions, custodial torture, extrajudicial killings, and other forms of inhumane treatment continue unabated. In Palestine, Pakistan's concern echoes numerous reports from global human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which have documented the torture and mistreatment of Palestinian detainees, including minors, by occupation forces. These actions flagrantly violate international law, including the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. In the occupied West Bank, these documented abuses reflect the ongoing use of torture as a means of quelling resistance. Similarly, tensions in IIOJK have remained high since August 2019, when India revoked Article 370, which granted the region a degree of autonomy. Since then the IIOJ&K has witnessed an escalating military presence, communication blackouts, and the erosion of basic civil liberties. Custodial deaths, the unlawful use of pellet guns against unarmed protesters, and enforced disappearances have become standard tactics used to suppress the Kashmiri people's legitimate struggle for freedom. Unfortunately, universal principles concerning the dignity and rights of individuals are applied selectively by Western powers, depending on political expediency and geopolitical interests. This double standard is glaringly evident in the cases of Palestine and IIOJK. Silence or indifference in the face of such egregious injustices is tantamount to complicity. By highlighting these issues, Pakistan has asserted its position as a vocal advocate for oppressed peoples and a proponent of the rules-based international order. The Foreign Office's statement rightly underscores the necessity for the international community to hold violators of human rights accountable and to prevent the normalisation of such criminal conduct. This message must resonate not just on commemorative days like June 26, but consistently in international forums through sustained diplomatic pressure and humanitarian engagement. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Express Tribune
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
India ramps up security in Pahalgam as month-long pilgrimage begins
Indian security personnel stand guard as Hindu pilgrims await their registration ahead of the the annual Amarnath pilgrimage © Tauseef MUSTAFA / AFP Listen to article Hindu devotees began on Thursday a month-long pilgrimage in Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K), with many of the faithful starting from near the site in Pahalgam where a deadly attack triggered conflict with Pakistan in April. India has ramped up security for the event, deploying 45,000 troops with high-tech surveillance tools overseeing the gruelling trek to reach the high-altitude cave, dedicated to the Hindu deity of destruction Shiva. 'We have multi-layered and in-depth security arrangements so that we can make the pilgrimage safe and smooth for the devotees,' said VK Birdi, police chief for the Muslim-majority territory. Last year, half a million devotees took part in the Amarnath pilgrimage to a sacred ice pillar located in a cave in the forested Himalayan hills above the town of Pahalgam. Pahalgam is the site in IIOJK where gunmen on April 22 killed 26 people, mostly tourists. India immediately blamed Pakistan for the incident, despite providing no public evidence. Pakistan has strongly denied involvement and called for an independent investigation. Read: Pahalgam: Quad avoids blaming Pakistan Tensions further escalated in the early hours of May 7, when missile strikes hit six cities in Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), destroying a mosque and killing dozens of civilians, including women, children and the elderly. In a swift military response, Pakistan's armed forces shot down Indian warplanes, including three Rafale jets, widely regarded as a key asset of the Indian Air Force. Over the following two days, India launched waves of Israeli-made drones, which were also neutralised by Pakistan's military. The confrontation intensified again in the early hours of May 10, when India targeted several Pakistani airbases with missile strikes. In retaliation, Pakistan launched Operation Bunyanum Marsoos, damaging Indian military installations, including missile storage sites, airbases and other strategic targets. It was the worst standoff by the nuclear-armed nations since 1999, with more than 70 people killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides, before a ceasefire came into effect on May 10. 'Not afraid' Pilgrim Muneshwar Das Shashtri, who travelled from Uttar Pradesh state, told AFP 'there is no fear of any kind'. 'Our army is standing guard everywhere. No one can raise a finger towards us,' he said. At Pahalgam, soldiers have turned a tented base camp into a fortress encircled by razor wire. Troops in newly deployed armoured cars, or from gun positions behind sandbags, keep a close watch – efforts boosted by facial recognition cameras. 'High-quality surveillance cameras have been installed at all major points along the route,' said Manoj Sinha, the Indian-appointed top administrator for IIOJ&K. All pilgrims must be registered and travel in guarded vehicle convoys, until they start out to walk. Camouflaged bunkers have been erected in the forests along the route, where dozens of makeshift kitchens provide free food. Electronic radio cards pinpoint their location. Pilgrims can take several days to reach the cave, perched at 3,900 metres (12,800 feet) high, around 30 kilometres (18 miles) uphill from the last easily motorable track. 'Whatever the attack that was carried out here, I am not afraid. I have come to get a glimpse of baba (the ice formation)' said Ujwal Yadav, 29, from India's Uttar Pradesh state, undertaking his first pilgrimage to the shrine. 'Such are the security arrangements here that no one can be hurt.' Sinha has said that 'public confidence is returning', but admits that pilgrim registration had dipped by 10% this year. Once a modest, little-known ritual, attended by only a few thousand mainly local devotees, the pilgrimage has grown since an armed insurgency erupted in 1989. Read more: Pakistan slams India at UNGA over human rights abuses, state terrorism Freedom fighters in IIOJ&K have said the pilgrimage is not a target, but have warned they would act if it is used to assert Hindu dominance. In 2017, millitants attacked a pilgrim bus, killing 11 people. The gunmen who carried out the April 22 killings remain at large, despite the manhunt by security forces in IIOJ&K where India has half a million soldiers permanently deployed. On June 22, India's National Investigation Agency said two men had been arrested from the Pahalgam area who they said had 'provided food, shelter and logistical support' to the gunmen. Indian police have issued wanted notices for three of the gunmen, two of whom they claim were Pakistani citizens.
Business Recorder
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Business Recorder
The Pahalgam incident
EDITORIAL: The horrific attack in the scenic Pahalgam region of Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K) that left 26 tourists dead — among them a newly married young navy officer on his honeymoon — and dozens others wounded, cannot be denounced enough. According to press reports, the gunmen separated men from women before killing them in cold blood. No known Kashmiri militant group has taken responsibility for the attack; instead, a mysterious entity calling itself 'The Resistance Front' has claimed credit for the carnage. Without waiting for the police investigation, India's shrill electronic media immediately started to pin the blame on 'Pakistan-backed terrorists.' Meanwhile, Umar Farooq, Chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella organisation of pro-independence groups, strongly condemned the attack saying such violence is unacceptable and against the ethos of Kashmir 'which welcomes visitors with love and warmth' and that his thoughts and prayers are with the victims' families. Significantly, this rare attack on tourists comes at a time US Vice President JD Vance has been visiting India along with his family. If the so-called Resistance Front does exist and had wanted to publicise its cause, it should have known better. As expected, Vance extended 'condolences to victims of the devastating terrorist attack in Pahalgam' while President Donald Trump assured Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the US' full support following the 'Deeply disturbing news out of Kashmir'. Most likely, it has been a false flag operation, just like the one that coincided with the March 2000 India visit by the then US President Bill Clinton. Some 36 Sikh men in Chitisinghpora in Anantnag district of IIOJ&K were similarly massacred by unidentified gunmen after separating them from women. The Sikhs were, and are, considered a neutral party in the fight between the Kashmiri freedom fighters and India. The real Kashmiri resistance had no reason to target the Sikhs then and the tourists now. Yet LK Advani, a prominent BJP leader at the time, in an apparent attempt to make an impression on Clinton had described the brutality as part of a Jihadist strategy to clear Kashmir of other faiths. The former president, though, reportedly was unconvinced. In fact, he has been quoted as having said 'if I hadn't made the trip, the victims would probably still be alive.' A reporter for the New York Times Barry Bearak as well as two independent investigations reached a similar conclusion, laying the blame for the killings at the Indian government's door. The 'extremely condemnable and heartbreaking' incident has drawn telling remarks from Congress party leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. 'Instead of making hollow claims about the situation being normal in Jammu and Kashmir', he said, 'the government should now take accountability and take concrete steps so that such barbaric incidents do no happen in the future, and innocent Indians do no lose their lives like this.' Unfortunately, the Modi government claims to have resolved the Kashmir issue, and yet uses it to accuse Pakistan of backing terrorism to justify the unjustifiable and also to cover up its own sponsorship of Pakistan-centric terror outfits. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
