Pakistani FM Bilawal urges UN to monitor crimes against women in Kashmir, other occupied territories

NEW YORK – Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto draws attention to the worsening human rights situation in occupied Kashmir where women are more vulnerable.

During a high-level debate at the UN Security Council in New York, Foreign Minister highlighted the dire need to establish a monitoring mechanism for crimes committed against women in territories under foreign occupation, especially in Indian-occupied Kashmir.

He said the majority of atrocities and crimes against women occur in situations of foreign occupation and suppression of the right to self-determination to peoples. The very object of violence in a situation of foreign occupation was to suppress the civilian population, he added.

Minister highlighted that women, peace and security strategy will remain unfinished as long as the dimension of the troubles of women is not addressed directly and robustly. He called for occupation forces to be accountable for their crimes.

FM said the world is aware of women’s plights in Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, in Africa and mentioned that the strategy to prevent war was yet to be implemented. Lamenting at curbs imposed on education and work on women and girls in neighboring Afghanistan, Bilawal urged the interim government to take steps towards the resumption of female education and empower them to play their due role in society.

Pakistan expresses solidarity with Kashmiri women as India using rape, torture to suppress freedom struggle

Foreign Minister reached New York Tuesday to preside over a conference on 'Women in Islam'. The moot is being hosted by Pakistan in its capacity as the chair of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers on the sidelines of the 67th Session of the U.N Commission on the Status of Women.