11-member Kashmiri delegation leaves for Geneva to attend 51st session of UNHRC

ISLAMABAD: An eleven-member Kashmiri delegation hailing from both sides of Line of Control (LoC) left for Geneva to attend 51st session of United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
Led by senior All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader and Chairman Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR) Altaf Hussain Wani, the delegation comprised of political leaders, academicians, civil society members and human rights activists including Sardar Amjad Yousaf Khan, Syed Faiz Naqashbandi, Advocate Pervez Shah, MS Shamim Shawal, Hassan Bana, Professor Shagufta Ashraf, Dr. Waleed Rasool, Dr. Saira Shah, Dr. Waqas Ali Kausar and Barrister Needa Salam.
During its week-long stay in Geneva the Kashmiri delegation besides attending the UNHRC session is scheduled to attend a host of important meetings with the UNHRC high commissioner, special rapporteurs, diplomats and representatives of international NGOs.
The main objective of the visit is to bring to focus the ongoing human rights violations in Indian occupied Kashmir in particular the rising incidents extrajudicial killings, mass destruction of properties, clampdown on dissent, attacks on right to education and religious rights and plight of Kashmiri prisoners.
The delegation would also apprise the world audience of the Indian government’s sinister designs aimed at changing the demographics of the region and its anti-Kashmir policies intended to minimize the majority community’s role in decision making process and reduce their political representation in the legislature by granting voting rights to non-Kashmiris. Agencies