ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari wrote a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to apprise him of the circumstances of Yasin Malik’s conviction in a manifestly-dubious and politically-motivated case filed by the Indian National Investigation Agency, his chronic ailment and the ruthless treatment meted out to him in Indian jails.
It is worth mentioning that the letter is also a part of Pakistan’s efforts to draw the attention of the international community toward the alarming situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK).
According to details, the letter, written on May 31, also highlights the incarceration of Yasin Malik, his sham trial on concocted charges, malicious conviction and an attempt to portray the legitimate freedom struggle of the Kashmiris as terrorism, illustrating India’s blatant disregard of its international legal obligations.
The foreign minister underscored that the malicious trial and conviction of Yasin Malik was a part of the Indian government’s ongoing attempts to persecute and repress the Kashmiris and their leadership and to implicate them in fictitious and motivated cases.
He noted that by denying a fair trial to Yasin Malik, arbitrarily detaining him and meting inhumane treatment to him in jail since 2019, India is in contravention of international human rights law, in particular the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. He also cautioned that in line with the well-documented pattern of Indian behaviour, there was a credible risk of “custodial murder” in the case of Yasin Malik.
