The New Nation - Internet Edition

BBC Online

India has dismissed United Nations' comments on the recent violent clashes in Indian-administered Kashmir as "unwarranted" and "irresponsible".

A foreign ministry spokesman said India did not require any advice on the protection and promotion of human rights of its citizens. The UN has called for an inquiry into the killings of civilians protesters. India troops have killed nearly 40 protesters since June, most of them in the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley. The protests were triggered by the allocation of land to a Hindu trust.

They have developed into the most serious protests in Indian-administered Kashmir in years.

On Wednesday, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a statement in Switzerland "calling on the Indian authorities and in particular security forces to respect the right to freedom of assembly and expression, and comply with international human rights principles in controlling the demonstrators".

"The use of force should be proportionate to the threat posed and firearms must only be used in dispersing a violent assembly to protect individuals against an imminent threat of death or serious injury," it said.

The United Nations called for a thorough and independent investigation into the killings.

It has also called on demonstrators "to protest using peaceful means only".

Indian-administered Kashmir has been hit by protests since June, after the government there granted land to a Hindu group that manages pilgrimage to a sacred Hindu shrine.