UN body urged to declare health emergency in Kashmir

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) - Pakistani foreign minister on Tuesday called on the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a "health emergency" in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, which has been facing a communication blackout since Aug. 5.

An official statement cited Shah Mahmood Qureshi as telling WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that the people in Kashmir have been facing a "draconian curfew" since the Indian government revoked the special status of the Muslim-majority region last month.

Qureshi also called upon Tedros to play his role in providing basic health services to the 15 million Kashmiris, according to the statement from the Pakistan's permanent mission to the UN.

"The foreign minister also stressed the need to declare health emergency in IOJK [Indian-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir]," the statement said after a meeting on the sidelines of the 42nd regular session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Jammu and Kashmir has been under a near-complete lockdown since Aug. 5, after India scrapped its special status as the government has blocked communication access and imposed restrictions to thwart any protests in the region.

Several rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have repeatedly called on India, to lift restrictions and release political detainees.

Indian authorities, however, claim that daytime restrictions have been lifted in 90% of the region.

From 1954 until Aug. 5, 2019, Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed special status under the Indian constitution, which allowed it to enact own laws. The provisions also protected the region's citizenship law, which barred outsiders from settling in and owning land in the territory.

India and Pakistan both hold Kashmir in parts and claim it in full. China also controls part of the contested region, but it is India and Pakistan who have fought two wars over Kashmir.