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Kashmiri human rights defender Javed Ahmad Beigh raised concerns over the detention and harassment of activists from Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan (PoGB) during his intervention at the 63rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.
Beigh urged the UNHRC to take immediate cognizance of what he described as the frequent illegal incarceration of activists from PoGB and called on Pakistan to end what he alleged was the misuse of anti-terrorism laws. He spoke about the alleged ill-treatment of Ehsan Ali, Chairman of PoGB's Awami Action Committee, along with Nusrat Hussain, Mehboob Wali, Nafees and Mehar Ali. According to Beigh, they were placed under the "Fourth Schedule" of Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. Beigh alleged that the law was being used to suppress dissent in both Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) and Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan (PoGB). He said the Awami Action Committee leaders were arrested by Pakistani authorities and incarcerated for nearly two months on what he described as false and fraudulent charges of "inciting violence" against the state of Pakistan. While noting that several of the leaders had since been released, Beigh alleged that the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 and its Fourth Schedule continued to be used to threaten, harass and intimidate civilian voices of dissent in PoGB and PoJK. "As an Indian Kashmiri, I stand on the august platform of the United Nations Human Rights Council to show my solidarity with my brothers and sisters from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir's Gilgit and Baltistan region," Beigh said, expressing solidarity with those he said continued to oppose oppression by the state of Pakistan. (ANI)
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