Srinagar: Indian troops in their unabated acts of state terrorism have martyred 915 children during the last thirty four years in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
Children in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir are suffering worst kind of persecution at the hands of Indian occupation forces, as the world is observing International Day of Children on 20th November.
Article (7) of the Intl Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) prohibits torture. Article 37 (a) of Convention on the Rights of the Child specifically obliges states to ensure that “No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
Speaking in the annual debate on “Children and Armed Conflict” at UN, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to UN Munir Akram said, Indian forces are committing “horrifying crimes” against children in occupied territory.
An Indian NGO, Indian People’s Tribunal described the plight of Kashmiri children in these words, “The entire concept of childhood has undergone a radical change in the valley.
The children do not go to KG or learn nursery rhymes or play with the toys, as normal children would do.” Children in Indian administered Kashmir are the worst sufferers due to enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings of their fathers, brothers, grandfathers and other relatives. Such killings have created psychological abnormalities and rendered their lives traumatic haunting their lives forever.
Indian troops in their unabated acts of state terrorism have martyred 904 children during the last 33 years. The killing of innocent Kashmiris by Indian forces rendered 107,887 children orphaned in the territory since 1989. Children in Indian administered Kashmir are living in the most militarized zone of the world, with the presence of 900,000 troops, which exposes them to the risk of all six grave violations against children as laid out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Children.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has expressed his concern over the “grave violations” against children in Indian administered Kashmir and called upon Indian government to take preventive measures to protect children, including by ending use of pellets against them. Indian non-compliance with convention on the rights of children in Indian administered Kashmir is a question mark on the conscience of international community.
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