EFSAS researcher slams 'inaccurate' UN report on J&K

Geneva: A research analyst at the European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) has slammed a report by the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Jammu and Kashmir as terrorism or its consequences have not been mentioned in the document.

Veronica Ekelund, the EFSAS Research Analyst, says that the report "completely disregards" facts like all terrorist organizations operating in Jammu & Kashmir are headquartered in Pakistan and receive patronage from Pakistan's Army, according to an official statement.

"An office as exalted as that of the High Commissioner for Human Rights did neither deem terrorism, nor its consequences, important or relevant enough to include in its first ever Report on Jammu & Kashmir," she said during the 41st Session of the UNHRC here.

"The fact that all terrorist organizations operating in Jammu & Kashmir are headquartered in Pakistan, and continue to receive patronage from Pakistan's Army in order to wage its proxy war in Jammu & Kashmir, has also been completely disregarded in this Report. This unabated export of terrorism has caused the killings of over 14,000 civilians and more than 5,000 security personnel since the 1990s," she added.

Ekelund also states that the report "attempts to vitiate history" by narrowing the conflict down to a two- year period, beginning with the death of a terrorist in 2016.

"In the absence of terrorism and religious radicalization exported to Jammu & Kashmir by the Military Establishment of Pakistan, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights would, in all likelihood, not have grounds to even refer to Jammu & Kashmir, let alone prepare an inaccurate report on it, which instead of taking the violent invasion of the State in 1947 as a starting point, attempts to vitiate history by narrowing the conflict down to a two- year period, beginning with the death of a terrorist in 2016," the researcher stated.

Wrapping up her intervention, Ekelund calls for the Report to be rectified so as to "firmly address" the menace of terrorism and its consequences.