ISLAMABAD, Jan 05 (APP): Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday said Pakistan would continue its strong and steadfast support to the valiant Kashmiri people in their just struggle for human dignity and their inalienable right to self-determination.
“Regrettably, this right of Kashmiris is being brazenly denied by India in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) for more than past seven decades,” the Foreign Minister said in his message on Kashmiris’ Right to Self-determination Day.
Today, Kashmiris around the world are observing the 72nd anniversary of the United Nations’ commitment that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute would be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices.
Foreign Minister Qureshi said through its resolution, the United Nations had affirmed support for realization of the inalienable right to self-determination of Kashmiris – a right from which all other fundamental freedoms and basic human rights emanate.
‘The United Nations, especially the UN Security Council, bear the responsibility to ensure fulfillment of the promise of granting the right to self-determination to the Kashmiris,” he said.
The Foreign Minister stressed that India was the sole cause of non-fulfillment of this promise.
“Post August 5, 2019, India’s unabated oppression has reached unprecedented levels with the inhuman military siege now in place for over 500 days,” he said.
In the midst of COVID-19 pandemic, he said, India had deprived Kashmiris of their basic rights to life, health and food.
Qureshi said thanks to awakened global conscience, the fresh spate of India’s illegal and unilateral actions, aimed at altering the disputed status of IIOJK and bringing about demographic change to undermine the right to self-determination of Kashmiris, had been widely rejected by the international community.
He urged upon the international community to continue its support for the fundamental freedom and basic human rights of Kashmiris.
He also called upon India to allow United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) for an unhindered access to carry out its duties in IIOJK.
“If India has nothing to hide, why does it not allow international media and civil society to visit and report on the human rights situation in IIOJK?,” he said.
