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ISLAMABAD: United Nations experts on Monday slammed New Delhi for sweeping counter-terrorism operations in Indian-occupied Kashmir, saying that measures taken after the April 22 Pahalgam attack have led to mass detentions, abuses, and unconstitutional punitive actions. According to a statement issued by the UN Human Rights Office, Indian authorities launched &ldquo;sweeping operations across the occupied territory&rdquo; after the Pahalgam attack, in which 26 people were killed. The response resulted in &ldquo;the arrest and detention of around 2,800 individuals, including journalists and human rights defenders.&rdquo; The UN said many detainees were &ldquo;detained and charged under the Public Safety Act or the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, which permit prolonged detention without charge or trial and contain vague and overbroad definitions of terrorism.&rdquo; &ldquo;Some detainees were allegedly tortured, held incommunicado, and denied access to lawyers and family members,&rdquo; the statement added. Eight UN experts, Ben Saul, Morris Tidball-Binz, Nazila Ghanea, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Nicolas Levrat, Paula Gaviria, Irene Khan, and Mary Lawlor, condemned the Pahalgam attack but stressed that counter-terror actions must remain lawful. &ldquo;We unequivocally condemn the brutal terrorist attack on a tourist area &hellip; However, all governments must respect international human rights law while combating terrorism,&rdquo; they said. The experts flagged &ldquo;reports of punitive house demolitions and forced evictions and arbitrary displacement,&rdquo; saying families of individuals perceived as militant supporters were targeted &ldquo;without court orders or due process.&rdquo; They called the measures &ldquo;collective punishment,&rdquo; which defied a 2024 Indian Supreme Court ruling declaring such demolitions unconstitutional. They further expressed concern over &ldquo;communication blackouts and restrictions on press freedom,&rdquo; noting that authorities suspended mobile internet services and &ldquo;blocked around 8,000 social media accounts, including those of journalists and independent media outlets.&rdquo; These actions were described as &ldquo;disproportionate restrictions on freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly.&rdquo; The UN&rsquo;s warning comes months after India and Pakistan fought a four-day war in May, triggered by the Pahalgam attack on civilians in the highly-guarded occupied valley, an incident New Delhi blamed on Islamabad and Pakistan firmly rejected. The fighting quickly escalated into the deadliest cross-border clashes since 2019, involving missile, drone, and artillery strikes before both sides accepted a US-brokered ceasefire. Targeting Kashmiris beyond the regionAccording to the statement, experts also found that &ldquo;Kashmiri students were subject to surveillance and harassment, following government directives requiring universities to collect their personal data.&rdquo; They reported heightened &ldquo;hate speech and incitement to violence against Muslims, inflamed by political figures in the ruling party,&rdquo; as well as demolitions in Gujarat and Assam &ldquo;where thousands of Muslim homes, mosques, and businesses were destroyed.&rdquo; The experts said nearly &ldquo;1,900 Muslims and Rohingya refugees were also expelled to Bangladesh and Myanmar, often without due process,&rdquo; calling the expulsions a breach of the international obligation of non-refoulement. They also highlighted ongoing abuses in the occupied territory, pointing to human rights defenders including Irfan Mehraj and Khurram Parvez, who remain detained &ldquo;under draconian security laws.&rdquo; Calling for the &ldquo;immediate unconditional release of all individuals arbitrarily detained,&rdquo; the experts urged India to overhaul its counter-terrorism laws. &ldquo;Excessive counter-terrorism measures not only violate human dignity, the Indian Constitution and international law, but counter-productively fuel social division and grievances that can spiral into further violence,&rdquo; they warned. The UN body also called on India and Pakistan to &ldquo;peacefully resolve the long-running conflict&rdquo; over Kashmir to end what it described as a &ldquo;destructive cycle of cross-border violence.&rdquo;

India

Eight-member expert committee says excessive counter-terrorism measures “not only violate human dignity, the Indian Constitution and international law, but counter-productively fuel social division and grievances that can spiral into further violence.”

Indian operations post Pahalgam violating human rights in occupied Kashmir: UN 

ISLAMABAD: After declaring in May that any future terror attack in India would be considered &ldquo;an act of war&rdquo;, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has left India constrained in responding to the recent Delhi blast, facing domestic and diplomatic pressures that analysts say reflect a trap of its own making, according to a report published by Al Jazeera. On Nov. 10, a car blast in India&rsquo;s capital resulted in 13 deaths and several injuries. The Indian prime minister&rsquo;s rhetoric, the report says, &ldquo;limits how easily India can blame alleged perpetrators without raising expectations of a conflict with Pakistan.&rdquo; India was swift to blame Islamabad for the April&nbsp;Pahalgam incident, an attack on tourists which left 26 dead; Pakistan denied any involvement.&nbsp; In May, the two countries were involved in an armed conflict that lasted four days before a ceasefire was reached. &lsquo;Trap of one&rsquo;s own creation&rsquo;&nbsp;The report highlights that &ldquo;Modi&rsquo;s comments drew a new red line and a low threshold for future military action against Pakistan.&rdquo; While the Indian cabinet has termed the Delhi blast &quot;a terror incident,&quot; the government has so far avoided accusing any country of the incident. This is in contrast to the knee-jerk blame directed at Pakistan in the case of the Pahalgam incident in May. According to the Al Jazeera report, &ldquo;The low bar that Modi set for military action against Pakistan in the event of future attacks by armed groups means that naming Islamabad as responsible will automatically stir domestic expectations of an Indian military strike against its neighbor.&rdquo; On Modi&rsquo;s rhetoric about &ldquo;act of war,&rdquo; the article quotes Ajai Sahni, executive director of the South Asia Terrorism Portal, as saying, &ldquo;The Indian government painted itself into a corner &ndash; a trap of one&rsquo;s own creation.&rdquo; &lsquo;Foolish position&rsquo;&ldquo;With the declaration that an act of terror is an act of war and no elaboration on this doctrine, now they are confronting the consequences of what they say &ndash; a completely foolish position, not even a policy, that is short-sighted for political gains,&rdquo; Sahni is quoted as saying. Quoting analyst Michael Kugelman, the report says, &ldquo;If the government comes out and declares this to be a terrorist attack, there would be significant pressure, both strategic and political, for India to do something big, to do something kinetic.&rdquo; Speaking about the role of Indian agencies, Sheikh Showkat, a political analyst, is quoted as saying in the article, &ldquo;Blaming Pakistan has also been a way to shed one&rsquo;s own accountability.&rdquo; &ldquo;Whatever investigators find, India will be hampered in shaping its diplomatic and security response by its reaction&rdquo; to the incident in April, the report quotes analysts as saying.

The rhetoric limits responses to terror attacks, creating a self-imposed trap; analysts say it raises domestic pressure for retaliation, constrains diplomatic flexibility, and complicates India’s handling of incidents such as the Delhi blast.

Articles tagged with "Pahalgam"

Indian operations post Pahalgam violating human rights in occupied Kashmir: UN

'Act of war' rhetoric has put India’s Modi in a self-made trap: report