UN urged to probe killing of Pakistani Hindus in India

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan on Tuesday demanded a UN probe into the killings of 11 Pakistani Hindus in northwestern India.

In a letter addressed to the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, the country's Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari said the UN should investigate the killings in August that occurred in Rajasthan state and ensure the payment of reparations to the families of the deceased.

"The extrajudicial executions by Indian security forces in Manipur have not been fully investigated, in violation of the state of India's responsibility and obligation to carry out a prompt, thorough and effective investigation. in 2019 the UNHCR had called for "urgent progress" of investigations into these encounters," Mazari said in the letter.

She demanded the formation of an investigation team under UN auspices and urged India to allow the team to conduct a free, fair and impartial investigation into the matter and hand over the bodies of deceased to family members.

"I am cognisant of the need to ensure the collective involvement of all human rights organisations in this quest for justice, accountability and bringing an end to the culture of impunity for extrajudicial executions perpetrated by Indian security forces' personnel," she added.

In August, a family of 11 Pakistani Hindus was found dead in a rented farmhouse in the city of Jodhpur in India's Rajasthan state.

According to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry, despite Islamabad's repeated calls, the Indian government has still not released the necessary information on the deaths of the family members.

"I wish to reiterate that the Jodhpur incident is a matter of grave concern for the government and the people of Pakistan, particularly the Pakistani Hindu community," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said earlier in a statement.

"The daughter of the deceased head of the family, Shrimati Mukhi, has made highly concerning statements, implicating the Research and Analysis Wing [India's intelligence agency] in the murder of her father, mother and other family members, allegedly after the agency failed to convince them to spy on Pakistan and issue anti-Pakistan statements," he added.