Pakistan seeks UN attention towards human rights 'abuse' in Kashmir

The Pakistan Foreign Minister also condemned the harassment of Hurriyet leaders

Pakistan's new Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif on Friday sought the UN Secretary General's attention towards the alleged human rights abuses in Kashmir.

Asif strongly condemns "the recent killings in Jammu and Kashmir as well as harassment of Hurriyat leadership", the Foreign Office (FO) said.

Asif also accused India of altering the demography of Jammu and Kashmir by settling non-Kashmiris in the state and sought the Secretary General's attention towards it, the FO said.

Asif reiterated Pakistan's "moral, political and diplomatic support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir."

This comes after the US State Department's International Religious Freedom Report for 2016 (IRFR) was released on Tuesday in Washington by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

In Pakistan, the IRFR attributed the attacks on Hindus to claims of blasphemy against Islam and said: "Members of religious minority communities stated the government was inconsistent in safeguarding minority rights, and official discrimination against Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and Ahmadis persisted."

The report said according to Christian and Hindu organisations girls from those communities "were particularly vulnerable to forced conversions".