'Human rights violations in Kashmir,' says Mamata on World Humanitarian Day

New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday alleged of human rights violation in the Kashmir region while asserting that the subject of human rights was very close to her heart.

"Today is World Humanitarian Day. Human rights have been totally violated in Kashmir. Let us pray for human rights and peace in Kashmir," the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) chief tweeted on Monday.

Adding that the subject was very close to her heart and she had in past also taken to the roads for the cause, she said, "Human rights is a subject very close to my heart. In 1995, I was on the road for 21 days to protect human rights violations against deaths in lock-ups."

Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has started easing restrictions in the region after days of heightened security measures following the abrogation of Article 370 which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Banerjee had been critical of the Centre's move on Jammu and Kashmir and said that the "process of scrapping" Article 370 of the Constitution was wrong.

Earlier, India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin had outlined that no inter-governmental organisation in the world has ever said anything about Indian democracy or India's commitments towards human rights.

"We are the country who started issues of apartheid at the UN. India was the country which (worked for) changing the charter of human rights declaration. Our constitution is an open book and if there are any issues these will be addressed by our courts. We do not need international busybodies to try and tell us how to run our lives," he said in reply to a question about human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir after a closed-door meeting held at the United Nations Security Council on developments in the state.