Dilrook Kannangara

This was why India abstained from voting. UNHRC will turn to India with the same set of demands very soon and India is keen to avoid an embarrassing situation by being party to it.

https://undocs.org/A/HRC/46/L.1/Rev.1

The paragraph about devolution of political authority must have sent a chill down India for sure. India revoked even limited devolution of political authority enjoyed by the people in Jammu and Kashmir. Now both states come under direct Indian central government rule. How can India preach devolution to Sri Lanka when India is reversing devolution against its own minorities!

India has not earned the Colombo Port Western Terminal in exchange for UNHRC support. It must be revoked.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the attack dog of the UNHRC, has this to say about grave human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir (in addition to the devolution matter).

https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/IN/KashmirUpdateReport_8July2019.pdf

Sounds familiar? Isn’t it a carbon copy of the OHCHR report on Sri Lanka? India has not implemented any of these since July 2019 and that is a good guide for Sri Lanka too.

Quoted from the report.

OHCHR recommends: To the Human Rights Council: Consider   the   findings   of   this   report, including   the   possible   establishment   of   a commission   of   inquiry   to   conduct   a   comprehensive   independent   international investigation into allegations of human rights violations in Kashmir.

To the authorities in India:

(a) Fully respect India’s international human rights law obligations in Indian-Administered Kashmir,

(b) Urgently repeal the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990; and, in the meantime, immediately remove the requirement for prior central government permission to prosecute security forces personnel accused of human rights violations in civilian courts;

(c) Establish independent, impartial and credible investigations to probe all civilian killings which have occurred since July 2016, as well as obstruction of medical services during the 2016 unrest, arson attacks against schools and incidents of excessive use of force by security forces including serious injuries caused by the use of the pellet-firing shotguns;

(d) Investigate all deaths that have occurred in the context of security operations in Jammu and Kashmir following the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court of India;

(e) Investigate all cases of abuses committed by armed groups in Jammu and Kashmir, including the killings of minority Kashmiri Hindus since the late 1980s;

(f) Provide reparations and rehabilitation to all individuals injured and the family of those killed in the context of security operations;

(g) Investigate and prosecute all cases of sexual violence allegedly perpetrated by state and non-state actors, and provide reparations to victims;

(h) Bring into compliance with international human rights standards all Indian laws and standard operating procedures relating to the use of force by law enforcement and security entities, particularly the use of firearms: immediately order the end of the use of pellet-firing shotguns in Jammu and Kashmir for the purpose of crowd control;

(I) Amend the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 to ensure its compliance with international human rights law; 

(j) Release or, if appropriate, charge under applicable criminal offences all those held under administrative detention and ensure the full respect of standards of due process and fair trial guaranteed under International law;

(k) Treat any person below the age of 18 who is arrested in a manner consistent with the Convention on the Rights of the Child;

(l) Investigate all blanket bans or restrictions on access to the Internet and mobile telephone networks that were imposed in 2016, and ensure that such restrictions are not imposed in the future;

(m) End restrictions on the movement of journalists and arbitrary bans of the publication of newspapers in Jammu and Kashmir.

(n) Ensure independent, impartial and credible investigations into all unmarked graves in the state of Jammu and Kashmir as directed by the State Human Rights Commission; if necessary, seek assistance from the Government of India and /or the international community.  Expand the competence of the Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission to investigate all human rights violations and abuses in the state, including those allegedly committed by central security forces;

(o) Ensure people from Kashmir are not targeted or legally harassed in other parts of India on the basis of their actual or presumed identity;

(p) Ratify the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its Optional Protocol,

(q) Introduce enabling domestic laws as recommended during India’s UPR in 2008, 2012 and 2017;

(r) In line with its standing invitation to the Special Procedures, accept the invitation requests of the almost 20 mandates that have made such requests; in particular, accept the request of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and facilitate its visit to India, including to Jammu and Kashmir; and

(s) Fully respect the right of self-determination of the people of Kashmir as protected under international law.

[Unquote]