UN saddened by killing of Bukhari

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 19

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has expressed his “extreme sadness” at the killing of senior Kashmir journalist and Editor-in-Chief of Rising Kashmir Shujaat Bukhari last week in Srinagar.

Delivering the opening statement at the 38th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Zeid said: “I am tremendously saddened by the assassination last week of Shujaat Bukhari, a courageous human rights defender actively working for peace, including through his participation in the Track Two diplomacy seeking to help both India and Pakistan put an end to the violence.”

Under Zeid’s chairmanship, the OHCHR published its first-ever 49-page report just a day ahead of Bukhari’s killing, pulling up India and Pakistan for gross human rights violations on both sides of Kashmir.

The report asked Indian security forces to exercise maximum restraint, repeal AFSA and advocated self-determination rights of Kashmiris among others. The report complains about permission being denied for unfettered access to the UN watchdog on both sides of the Line of Control in the past two years.