ISLAMABAD, Oct 27 (APP): Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar on Monday said that an urgent and peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions was in the shared interest of all regional states and the international community.
The deputy prime minister, in his message on Kashmir Black Day, reiterated Pakistan’s call for the international community to play their due role in bringing an end to the suffering of the people in IIOJK.
“Their plight deserves not only attention but also meaningful action. Pakistan reaffirms its unwavering political, moral and diplomatic support to the just struggle of Kashmiri people. Pakistan will continue to raise its voice at every international forum until the realization of Kashmiris’ legitimate right to self-determination,” he remarked.
Recalling the dark events of October 27, 1947, when Indian troops landed in Srinagar to enforce India’s illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir, he said that in the last seventy-eight years, the people of IIOJK had suffered a systematic and relentless campaign of tyranny, oppression and subjugation at the hands of Indian occupation forces.
The deputy prime minister said that the UNSC, in a series of landmark resolutions, had unequivocally affirmed that the final disposition of Jammu and Kashmir would be determined through a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations.
“India has blatantly defied these binding resolutions, choosing instead to tighten its grip on the occupied territory through sheer force and repression. Pakistan, on its part, has always remained committed to the sanctity and centrality of UN Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir,” Ishaq Dar said.
He said that Pakistan had consistently recognized as well as emphasized the critical role of the international community in securing a just and lasting solution to this long-festering dispute in our region.
He said that the human tragedy in IIOJK had even worsened in the last six years following India’s illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019. The revocation of the special status of IIOJK, followed by the imposition of draconian laws, demographic changes triggered by the issuance of a barrage of domiciles to non-residents, and the imprisonment of the legitimate Kashmiri leadership have become the defining features of the Indian occupation, he said.
These measures are yet again a manifestation of India’s utter disregard for the UN Charter, the UN Security Council resolutions and the 4th Geneva Convention, the deputy prime minister added.
Ishaq Dar said that in the aftermath of the Pahalgam Attack, the Indian authorities launched another sweeping crackdown in IIOJK, subjecting thousands of Kashmiris to arbitrary detention and interrogation, while also carrying out demolition of homes of innocent residents in the occupied territory. These developments added to a long record of India’s human rights violations and atrocities in IIOJK that have been well documented by the UN bodies and international human rights organizations.
“Yet, even in the face of such overwhelming adversity, the people of IIOJK have shown remarkable resilience, courage, dignity and perseverance. Their struggle remains unflinching, constantly reminding us of their unyielding quest to attain the right to self-determination.”
Deputy Prime Minister Dar said that the recent hostilities between Pakistan and India had once again demonstrated how the Indian intransigence on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and its defiance of international law posed a grave threat to peace and stability in South Asia.