Dear Friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that around 500 residents in Dharamsal village, a small village on the Line of Control (dividing the State of Jammu Kashmir into Pakistani and Indian administered parts) have been living in equivocal situation since August 13, 2017. The Indian Army is unremittingly targeting the civilian population with mortar guns and other automatic machine guns. Schools are closed and only one road going in and out of the village is closed for any kind of transportation and movement. Dharamsal village is located at Pakistani side of Jammu Kashmir just few hundred meters away from Line of Control (LOC). Villagers are still waiting any response from local authorities including Azad Jammu Kashmir government and government of Pakistan to take necessary steps for the protection and security of the people.
CASE NARRATIVE:
According to information received by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) villagers are not able to get the drinking water from wells, groceries and other supplies from the nearby town as the only road passing through the village is uninterruptedly besieged by Indian forces with heavy shells. It has been more than 65 days since hundreds of the villagers are trapped in their houses in that small village. Only at the night time they come out of their homes in darkness to assemble water from the nearby wells and groceries from the nearby town but no help from local authorities and government of Pakistan. Children are barred from the schools as there is no surety of returning home alive when mortar shells are continuously fired.
Meanwhile dozens of civilian deaths have occurred during past two months in Nakyal, Abbaspur, Kahutta and other sectors along LOC in Jammu Kashmir. Similar reports are coming from Indian administered part of Jammu Kashmir, where civilians’ deaths and injuries are being reported due to Pakistani shelling. Heavy weapons are killing innocent civilians every day and destroying homes and other public and private property, and civilians are being forced to flee on both sides of the LOC in Jammu Kashmir with no shelters, living as unrecognized IDPs in despondent circumstances.
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urges both India and Pakistan to honor the ceasefire agreement along LOC in Jammu Kashmir, which both countries once agreed in 1948-49 at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and again bilaterally agreed to implement ceasefire in Jammu Kashmir in November 2003. Asian Human Rights Commission believes that both India and Pakistan must respect the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSCs) resolutions on Kashmir (1948) to which both the countries agreed to provide a peaceful environment to Kashmiri people till the final solution of this Himalayan country through a fair and free plebiscite under UN patronage.
In addition AHRC urges to both India and Pakistan to hold an emergency flag meeting of Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) to end the ceasefire violations immediately across LOC in Jammu Kashmir to let the civilians live a peaceful life across LOC. AHRC believes that deliberate targeting of civilians constitutes a war crime. Such heinous attacks are unacceptable and must stop immediately. All combating parties in Jammu Kashmir must abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law (IHL). Depriving children from going to schools and other civilians to carry out their daily activities to earn bread and butter for their families aggregates a severe human rights violation. AHRC urges to the conflicting parties to restrain such insane activities across LOC in Jammu Kashmir.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Although tensions between India and Pakistan along LOC in Jammu Kashmir date back to their creation in 1947 but recent tensions across the disputed Himalayan country are intensifying with every passing day since few years, when India accused Pakistani armed groups for an incursion on an army camp that killed 19 soldiers. India said it had responded by carrying out “surgical strikes” across the heavily militarized border, sparking a furious reaction from Islamabad, which denied such strikes had taken place. AHRC believes that whether such incidents occurred or not from either side but civilians in Jammu Kashmir have the very right for a peaceful life as the rest of the people across the globe. We must not allow both India and Pakistan to kill innocent civilians in Jammu Kashmir. Therefore, in these frightening state of affairs, we urge you to write letters to the Prime Ministers and Presidents of both India and Pakistan to stop the shelling across the LOC and to begin dialogue and also ask the Secretary General of the United Nations and other concerned bodies to take obligatory measures for direct intervention in this humanitarian crisis across LOC in Jammu Kashmir.
Over the years AHRC is constantly focusing and observing the human rights situation in both the parts of Jammu Kashmir and AHRC fears that in its unprejudiced judgment war mania prevails on both sides (India and Pakistan) among the armed forces while their mere objects are vulnerable civilians including women, children and elderly across LOC in Jammu Kashmir as similar reports are coming in both print and electronic media from both sides of LOC in Jammu Kashmir.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write the letters to the following authorities calling on them to immediately stop the mortar shelling at village Dharamsal and other villages on both the sides of LOC in Jammu Kashmir. The UN mandated peace mission along both sides of the LOC namely the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) which is present in the region since 24 January 1949 must play its vibrant part to stop the already fierce situation at LOC and take some tangible steps to ensure normalcy at LOC in Jammu Kashmir.
Please also urge the Secretary General of the UN to intervene the situation and investigate the killing and injuring of innocent villagers, closure of schools and also the destruction of houses of the people residing along the LOC in Jammu Kashmir. Please also call upon the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) with regard to this appalling situation created by India and Pakistan along both sides of the LOC in Jammu Kashmir, to monitor, to report the severe violations, and to execute indispensable measures to save civilians across the LOC in Jammu Kashmir.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear ___________,
INDIA/PAKISTAN: Stop shelling the Dharamsal village and other areas on the Line of Control in Jammu Kashmir
Name of victim: Villagers residing at the Line of Control on both sides of Jammu Kashmir
Names of alleged perpetrators: The governments of India and Pakistan
Date of incident: Recent months of 2017
Place of incident: Village Dharamsal and other villages across the Line of Control in Jammu Kashmir
I have received statistical information specifying nonstop mortar shelling between India and Pakistan at the Line of Control (LOC) in villages of Jammu Kashmir. In recent months, dozens of unprotected civilians have lost their lives and many more have been injured, with some incapacitated for life. Several houses on both sides have been destroyed. The schools in village Dharamsal and other areas across LOC have been closed and residents are facing water and food scarcities over two months. Women, children and elderly across the LOC are forced to live amid terrifying situation and many thousands are fleeing the LOC areas with no shelters.
I am shocked to know that due to incessant mortar shelling across LOC in Jammu Kashmir between Indian and Pakistani forces, life has become nightmarish and lurid in many areas across LOC in Jammu Kashmir. Dozens of defenseless civilians have lost their lives, many more injured. Schools are closed and thousands of poor people are fleeing the area with no place to have shelter. At the time of the drafting of this appeal, it has been over two months since there was no halt in cross-LOC shelling in Jammu Kashmir. Due to this haphazard shelling, civilian’s properties on both sides have been badly damaged, farmers could not harvest the crops leaving many poor families with no food to sustain their lives and no shelter as winter is approaching, thus creating a chaos for hundreds of thousands of civilians across LOC in Jammu Kashmir.
It is a deplorable situation that children are barred from going to school amid tentative circumstances in village Dharamsal and other villages across LOC. It is also a stark violation of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) that civilians are facing water and food shortages to sustain their lives. It is shocking that that on October 16, 2017 two civilians were killed and seven others belonging to the same family were injured receiving bullets fired by Indian forces in Nakyal (Pakistani administered Kashmir) and eight civilians injured by Pakistani shelling in village Balakot (Indian administered Kashmir). It was even more frightening to know that three civilians belonging to the same family were killed in village Abbaspur (Pakistani administered Kashmir) when many mortar shells hit their house.
In my unprejudiced judgment war mania prevails on both sides among the armed forces while their mere objects are vulnerable civilians including women, children and elderly across LOC in Jammu Kashmir as similar reports are coming in both print and electronic media from both sides of LOC in Jammu Kashmir.
Although tensions between India and Pakistan along LOC in Jammu Kashmir date back to their creation in 1947 but recent tensions across the long-disputed Himalayan country are escalating with every passing day since few years, when India blamed Pakistani armed groups for a raid on an army base that killed 19 soldiers. India said it had responded by carrying out “surgical strikes” across the heavily militarized border, sparking a furious reaction from Islamabad, which denied such strikes had taken place.
There have since been repeated outbreaks of cross-LOC firing in Jammu Kashmir, with both sides reporting deaths and injuries including women, children and elderly. Heavy weapons are killing innocent civilians and destroying homes and other public and private property, and civilians are being forced to flee on both sides of the LOC.
The United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) is present in the mission area (Jammu Kashmir State) since January 1949 to supervise the ceasefire mandated by the Security Council , and to support the Military Adviser to the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP), established in 1948 by Security Council resolutions 39 (1948) and 47 (1948).
I therefore, urge you to instantly stop the mortar shelling at the villages on both sides of LOC in Jammu Kashmir. The United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) on the LOC must be activated and allowed to take serious actions to stop the startling situation from escalating into a cross border war kind of situation as I fear that both India and Pakistan possess nuclear arms and Kashmir conflict could become a “nuclear flash point”. I suggest both India and Pakistan to immediately convene a flag meeting of Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) to halt the frightening situation at LOC in Jammu Kashmir.
I also urge the immediate intervention of the Secretary General of the United Nations in the killing and injuring of unarmed civilians, destruction of properties, closure of schools, food shortages and miserable condition in which IDPs are living across LOC in Jammu Kashmir. I also call upon the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) with regard to the present terrible situation created by India and Pakistan along both sides of the LOC in Jammu Kashmir, to monitor and report to the concerned authorities the severe violations, and to take concrete steps to save civilians across the LOC in Jammu Kashmir.
Yours Sincerely,
……………….
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Department of Peacekeeping Headquarters:
United Nations / DPKO (Rm S-3630A)
Ney York NY 10017
USA
Phone Number: (212) 963-8079
Fax Number: (212) 963-9222
2. Maj. Gen. Guido Dante Palmieri
Head of Mission / Chief Military Observer
United Nations Military Observer Group In India And Pakistan (UNMOGIP)
1 A B, Purana Qila Road
New Delhi-110001
Phone:+91-11-2338 5084, 2338 6661
Fax:+91-11-2338 4052
Email: unmogip-delhi@un.org
3. Major. General Moonhwa KIM
Chief Military observer /HOM
United Nations Military Observer Group In India And Pakistan (UNMOGIP)
Plot 5-11, Diplomatic Enclave, P.O. Box 1350
Islamabad
Phone: +92-51-2600881+92-51-2600882
Fax: +92-51-2600887
Email: unmogipregistry@un.org
4. Mr. Shahid Khaqan Abbassi
Prime Minister of Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Prime Minister House
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 922 1596
Tel: +92 51 920 6111,
E-mail: secretary@cabinet.gov.pk, pspm@pmsectt.gov.pk
5. Ms. Sushma Swaraj
Minister for External Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
New Delhi
Phone numbers: + 91 11 23011127 +91 11 230 11165
FAX: +91 11 23011463 + +91 11 23013254
Email: eam@mea.gov.india
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)
