Category: Kashmir

The assurance came after US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor described Jammu and Kashmir as an “important part of India” during his visit to Srinagar on August 19. Pakistan sought clarification over whether the remarks represented a policy shift and summoned the US chargé d’affaires in Islamabad in protest.

US officials told Pakistani interlocutors there had been “no change in our position” and reiterated that Kashmir remained a dispute requiring resolution between Pakistan and India.

The issue was also discussed during a media interaction involving Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Chairman Rana Muhammad Qasim Noon and Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Rizwan Saeed Sheikh.

Pakistan has long pressed Washington to maintain consistency on Kashmir, while India describes the matter as an internal affair.

GENEVA: Pakistan on Thursday condemned India at the 63rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council for evading questions on human rights in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and the treatment of minorities.

Exercising the right of reply to India, First Secretary Adeel M. Khokhar said India had adopted a “familiar pattern” of changing the subject and invoking Pakistan when confronted with uncomfortable facts.

“Let us make it clear: Jammu and Kashmir is not, and has never been, an integral part of India. It is a disputed territory, as recognised by the relevant Security Council resolutions. Repeated denials and unilateral measures cannot alter this reality,” he said.

The Pakistani delegate said India had avoided holding a free and impartial plebiscite under UN auspices in Jammu and Kashmir, and questioned the continued enforcement of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which he said shielded security forces from prosecution and amounted to a “licence for impunity”.

He said extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention and torture of Kashmiris by Indian forces had been documented in reports by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). He also criticised the changes to domicile and land laws and the delimitation of constituencies in IIOJK since August 5, 2019.

SRINAGAR: The State Investigation Agency (SIA) searched two houses in Kulgam and Qazigund in south Kashmir on October 1, according to Kashmir Observer. The agency said the searches were part of a human-trafficking and cyber-fraud case.

The SIA claimed that local youth were allegedly lured with promises of jobs abroad and taken via Thailand to Myanmar. It said mobile phones, identity documents and a passport were seized during the raids.

The allegations are at a preliminary stage and could not be independently verified. Further details on arrests or charges are awaited.

Such trafficking cases typically involve victims being taken abroad on false job promises and forced to work in fraud centres.

RAWALPINDI: Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry has rejected the Indian Army’s claim that a man killed in Budgam belonged to Pakistan, presenting retired havildar Mohammad Asif alive at a press conference on October 1 and calling the Indian account a “false flag”.

According to the Indian Army’s Chinar Corps, a joint operation by the army, police and CRPF in the Korag area of Yousmarg, Budgam district, on the night of September 29-30 killed a militant identified as “Mohammad Asif alias Hashim Moosa”, described as a Lashkar-e-Taiba commander.

Asif, presented at the press conference, said he joined the Pakistan Army in 2000, moved to the elite Special Services Group (SSG) in 2005, retired in 2023, and lives with his family in Rawalpindi, according to reports in Dawn and Arab News. Indian officials had claimed he once served in former president Pervez Musharraf’s security convoy and was involved in high-profile attacks over the last three years.

The DG ISPR said the presentation of the living man disproved the Indian claim. At the time of publication, India had not formally responded to the Pakistani press conference.

The episode underscores the contested nature of military claims in the region, where independent verification of such assertions is rarely possible.