New Domicile Law in IOK contravenes Int’l Law, UNSC resolutions: Nafees Zakaria

Friendly cricket match played between High Commission and Woking Cricket Club teams
Friendly cricket match played between High Commission and Woking Cricket Club teams

LONDON Jul 09 (APP):Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Mohammad Nafees Zakaria Thursday said “new domicile law” in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK) was contravened International law and United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.

He stated this while participating in a Virtual Seminar titled “New Domicile Law in Indian-Occupied Kashmir”, which was jointly organised by Jammu Kashmir Self-Determination Movement International (JKSDMI) and the Daily Kashmir Times here.

The seminar was attended by Andrew Gwynne Member Parliament (MP) Chairman Labour Friends of Kashmir, Shadow Minister Afzal Khan MP, Jonathan Gullis MP, Yasmeen Dar, senior member Labour Party’s National Executive Committee Raja Najabat Hussain, Chairman JKSDMI and Asia Hussain, Chair, WEST Midland JKSDMI. President Kashmiri Youth Parliament Ubaid Qureshi also joined the zoom meeting from Azad Jammu & Kashmir.
High Commissioner Nafees Zakaria said such seminars were a reminder that Kashmiri people yearn for their right to self-determination.

He informed that India promulgated Domicile Law, in clear violation of relevant international law and Geneva Convention.

“It also violates the UNSC resolutions, which prohibit any material change in the disputed territory,” he stated.

Zakaria said Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s letter to the United Nations Secretary General alerted the international community on August 1st about India’s sinister designs.

He also apprised of the contours of the illegal legislation, J&K Reorganisation Order 2020, which would engineer rapid demographic change in the disputed territory.

Zakaria underlined that India had been systematically changing demography of IOJK over the years.

The methodology, he said prominently included genocide, mass killings and perpetual genocide as tools to change the demography.

The 1947 Genocide of Jammu, scores of massacres since 1989, discovery of thousands of mass graves in 2009 and forced expulsions were clear manifestations in that regard.

The high commissioner on the occasion reiterated Pakistan’s principled stance on the issue of Kashmir.

Pakistan’s moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiris’ just cause remains unflinching, he added.

He briefed the participants on the efforts undertaken to apprise the world leaders and the UN Secretary General on the grave human rights situation in IOJK, decades long sufferings of Kashmiris, at the hands of Indian occupation forces, which have aggravated since India took illegal measures on August 5th,2019 to change the status of IOJK with 11-month old military siege and communication blockade, compounded by COVID-19 pandemic.

He stressed that lack of concrete measures against the perpetrators has emboldened them to commit crimes against humanity with impunity.
Nafees Zakaria also called for implementation of UNSC resolutions for peace and prosperity in the region.

He urged the international community to press India to stop gross violations of human rights in IOJK and lift seige of IOJK.

In his opening remarks, Raja Najabat Hussain said July was the month when many sons of Kashmir lost their lives and hence Kashmir Martyrs’ Day is observed on July 13 every year.

Kashmiris world over pay tribute to the martyrs, and renew their commitment to keep raising voice in support of their right to self-determination as enshrined in the UNSC resolutions on Kashmir dispute, he added.

The speakers raised serious concerns over deteriorating human rights conditions in IOJK and expressed solidarity with the oppressed Kashmiris in their struggle for self-determination.

They particularly condemned the newly promulgated Domicile Law in IOK and warned about the consequences of any forced demographic change in the occupied territory.

They said it was illegal for the Indian government to grant Kashmiri domicile to any non-Kashmiri individual.

The speakers observed that Kashmir was an international issue and, therefore, the international community should play its role to end human suffering in IOJK and resolve the dispute according to the UNSC resolutions.

They also expressed serious concerns over communication and media blackout in the occupied territory.

The speakers including Kashmiri leaders said the images of the victims coming from Indian occupied Kashmir were horrifying and demanded to end the oppression immediately and unconditionally.

They also called upon the UK government that UK being one of the five permanent members of UNSC should play its due role to stop the human rights abuses and bloodshed of innocent Kashmiris and force India to implement UNSC resolutions on Kashmir for peace and prosperity in the region.

APP Services