UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Monday called for a “very close look” at the continued incarceration of Kashmiris prisoners in jails under Indian control amid growing coronavirus cases.
Six leading international human rights organizations jointly demanded immediate release of Kashmir, thousands of them imprisoned since August 5, 2019 New Delhi clampdown on the disputed territory.
“The secretary-general, as we have said before, believes that member states need to take very close look at incarcerations during a time of Covid-19,” his spokesman, Stiephane Dujarris said, when a correspondent raised the question at the daily briefing.
Thousands of Kashirmis were sent to jails as Indian forces detained them during one of the most strict military lockdowns, when New Delhi single-handed changed the status of the UN-recognized disputed region in August last year.
Since then, Kashmiris have lost their basic freedoms and there is no word on the fate of those detained arbitrarily, without any charges.
World human rights bodies have expressed deep concern over the situation. According to international media reports several detainees are young Kashmiri boys.
The organizations that issued the call for freedom of the Kashmiri prisoners include Geneva-based World Organisation Against Torture, Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights, the Johannesburg-based CIVICUS, the Manila-based Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists, and the London-based Amnesty International.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, has also called on governments to “examine ways to release those particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, among them older detainees and those who are sick, as well as low-risk offenders,” the spokesman said.
On the situation in Kashmir, the secretary-general “very much believes that any political solution must take into consideration the issue of human rights,” the spokesman said.
In a joint statement six human rights organizations note Indian desire to de-congest prisons.
“The fate of hundreds of arbitrarily detained Kashmiri prisoners hangs in the balance as the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in India passes the 4,000 mark and many more are likely to remain undetected or unreported.
“Inmates and prison staff, who live in confined spaces and in close proximity with others, remain extremely vulnerable to COVID-19. While the rest of the country is instructed to respect social isolation and hygiene rules, basic measures like hand washing – let alone physical distancing – are just not possible for prisoners.
