Instead of getting protection, civilians are being used as human shields in ‘occupied territories’, said Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi, in an apparent reference to a 2017 incident of a man being used as a “human shield” by an Indian Army Major Letul Gogoi against alleged stone-pelters in Kashmir.
Lodhi while speaking at a UN Security Council open debate on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, said civilians, who should be the primary subject of protection, have become the principal objects of attack.
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She said the impact of armed conflicts on civilians is now no longer limited to collateral damage. “Targeted attacks, sexual violence, forced conscription and indiscriminate killings collectively paint an extremely bleak picture of the human costs of modern day armed conflict,” she said.
Lodhi added that the Geneva Conventions are violated, respect for human life violated, and civilians are used as human shields in occupied territories.
“Worse, perpetrators who commit such crimes are awarded honors by their military commands,” she said, alleging that “these crimes” continue to be perpetrated in Palestine and Kashmir.
Incidentally, Major Gogoi, was apprehended by the Jammu and Kashmir Police with a girl in a hotel in Srinagar on Wednesday.
The police in it’s statement has said that an Army Officer, a woman and another civilian were apprehended after they got a call from Hotel Grand Mamta in Dalgate.
The booking details available with Free Press Kashmir show that the guest named Leetual Gogoi checked in on Wednesday May 23, 2018. The check out was to happen on Thursday 24 May.
