GENEVA, Feb 1 (1994): Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto Tuesday condemned India for alleged “gross human rights’ violations” in Kashmir, comparing them to those of Nazi Germany’s holocaust.
Addressing the UN Human Rights’ Commission here, she called on India to free political prisoners, lift the state of emergency in Kashmir and remove additionnal forces sent to the northwestern province “to conduct its campaign of repression” and human rights’ violations “reminiscent of the darkest days of the holocaust”.
She also asked New Delhi to “seek a peaceful rather than a military solution” to its dispute with Pakistan over the status of Kashmir, a mostly-Moslem province divided between the two countries.
She also called on India to allow visits to the province by international human rights’ organisations and the press.
Repression and “gross human rights violations” in Kashmir have left 40,000 victims, she said.
India and Pakistan have fought two wars over the status of the province whose present line of division was agreed to by both parties in 1972.
India has repeatedly accused Pakistan of arming the Moslem rebels in its part of Kashmir.
