Guterres defends his and Zeid's reports on Kashmir as 'voice of UN'
United Nations, July 12 : UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday mounted a strong defence of reports dealing with Kashmir issued recently by him and Human Rights High Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, saying that they were covered by the "the general mandate of human rights instruments".
Guterres backed Zeid's call in his report for an investigation into the human rights situation in Kashmir, saying it represented the "voice of the UN."
India had objected to Guterres's report on children in armed conflict that referred to Kashmir, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and to Zeid's report on human rights in Kashmir that called for the setting up of an international investigation into the situation there.
India said that Zeid had no mandate for his report that showed a "clear bias" and that Guterres had overstepped him Security Council when he referred to India in his report.
Asked at his news conference if he fully backed the Zeid report, Guterres said: "As you can imagine all the action of the Human Rights High Commissioner is an action that represents the voice of the UN in relation to that issue."
Answering a question about the reports running counter to India's long-standing assertion that Kashmir was a part of India and any problem concerning it was a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan, Guterres said there was a distinction between political matters and human rights.
He said: "One thing is the definition of mechanisms for a political solution of a situation in the country and the other thing is the general mandate of human rights instruments in relation to human rights everywhere."
"What the Human Rights Commissioner did it was the use of his own competencies and capacities as it allows him (in) all other parts of the world to report on what he considers to be relevant human rights violations," Guterres explained.
"It doesn't mean that there is in that a preference for any kind of methodology for a political solution," he added.
As for India's saying that the situation in the three Indian states mentioned in Guterres's report not meeting "a definition of armed conflict or of threat to maintenance of international peace and security," he said that the same principles applied to it also.
His "report is a report about the situation in which the rights of children have been put into question," he said.
In his report last month on children in armed conflict, Guterres accused Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen in Kashmir and Maoists in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand of using children.
He also assigned blame to the Indian government saying, "children continued to be killed and injured in the context of operations of national security forces against armed groups."
His report added that "unverified reports" indicate national security forces use children as "informants and spies."
On Monday, India's Deputy Permanent Representative told the Security Council that Zeid's "so-called report" was "reflecting the clear bias of an official who was acting without any mandate whatsoever and relied on unverified sources of information."
As for Guterres's report, he said: "We are disappointed that the report of the Secretary General includes situations, which do not meet the definition of armed conflict or of threat to maintenance of international peace and security."
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India-bound LPG tanker clears Hormuz
New Delhi (PTI): A tanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for India has sailed out of the Strait of Hormuz and is now headed towards the country, an official statement said on Sunday.
The Marshall Islands-flagged LPG carrier MT Sarv Shakti, loaded with 46,313 tonnes of LPG and staffed by 20 crew, including 18 Indians, cleared the key shipping chokepoint on May 2 and is expected to reach Visakhapatnam on May 13, it said.
The cargo -- enough to meet half a days requirement of the country -- will partly tide over supply constraints being faced since the start of the West Asia conflict more than two months back.
Ship-tracking data showed its position in Oman Gulf on Sunday evening.
The very large gas carrier has previously made runs between the Persian Gulf and Indian ports, has been chartered by state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
Sarv Shakti is the first India-linked tanker to cross the war zone since a weeks-old US blockade of ships tied to Iran began, pushing transits through Hormuz back down to almost zero.
There are as many as 14 Indian flagged or India-owned vessels still stranded on the west side of the Strait of Hormuz.
The statement said no incident involving Indian-flagged vessels has been reported in the past 24 hours. The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways is working closely with the Ministry of External Affairs, Indian missions and maritime stakeholders to ensure crew welfare and uninterrupted operations.
The Directorate General of Shipping (DG Shipping) control room has handled 8,373 calls and more than 17,965 emails since activation, including 38 calls and 127 emails in the last 24 hours.
India has also facilitated the repatriation of more than 2,953 seafarers so far, including 31 in the past day from across the Gulf region.
Port operations across the country remain normal with no congestion reported, the statement added.
