More than 73 years have passed and the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) are still struggling to get their legitimate right of self-determination as promised by the world powers at their top forum, the United Nations (UN).
On October 26, 1947, India landed its troops in Srinagar with sinister designs to annex the Muslim-majority Kashmir with New Delhi in sheer violation of the sub-continent’s partition formula, and till-date it is working on the same agenda.
When the Kashmir dispute was intentionally crafted in 1947-1948, the United States, Britain, China, France, Canada, Argentina, Belgium and Columbia championed the stand that the future status of Kashmir must be ascertained in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of the people of the territory.
Accordingly, the UN Security Council on April 21, 1948 adopted a resolution. The basic formula for settlement of the issue was incorporated in the resolutions of the UN Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) adopted on August 13, 1948 and January 5, 1949.
These were not the routine resolutions as their provisions were negotiated in detail by the UN Commission with India and Pakistan after getting the consent of both the governments, constituting a binding and solemn international agreement about the settlement of the Kashmir dispute.
“We are dismayed by the lack of action by the world powers to help stop the carnage in Kashmir and by their virtual indifference to the situation in our land,” Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, a prominent Kashmiri leader, wrote in one of his articles.
Kashmir, he said, was the only international dispute where the solution of the conflict ‘right to self-determination’ was suggested by the parties themselves, India and Pakistan.
After going through the decades-long physical and mental agony, now the people of IIOJK are facing the worst type of repression at the hands of Modi-led fascist government which has stripped the held territory of its special status, on August 5 last year, by revoking Articles 370 and 35-A to change its demographic apartheid.
It is quite clear that New Delhi took this illegal, immoral and unconstitutional action out of frustration as its around-the-clock curfew, communication blackouts, arrests and killings and forceful suppression of protesters fell flat before the indomitable spirit and struggle of the Kashmiri people, whose commitment gets stronger with every intensive move of the so-called secular state.
The world community knows very well the tragic story of the IIOJK where around one million Indian troops are continuously putting the innocent Kashmiris under siege, killing and raping children and women with impunity and denying every fundamental right.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, in his message on Self-determination Day of Kashmirs on January 5, called upon the international community to take action on the “well-documented human rights violations” being committed with impunity by Indian Occupation forces against innocent Kashmiri men, women and children.
He said it was time for the world to ensure that Kashmiris get their right to self-determination, denied to them for 73 years.
“Pakistan stands unequivocally with the Kashmiri people in their struggle for freedom from the tyranny of one of the most ruthless, inhumane and illegal occupation in modern history,” he said.
President Dr Arif Alvi in his message said Pakistan would continue to extend all possible support for the just cause of the people of Jammu and Kashmir till the realization of their right to self-determination in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.
“The right to self-determination is a vital component of human dignity. The negation of this right is the negation of human freedom, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and UN Human Rights Covenants. India is the biggest violator of this inalienable human right,” he said.
Acknowledging the measures taken by Pakistan after India’s illegal actions of August 5, senior leader of All Pakistan Hurriyat Conference (APHC) Syed Mushtaq Gilani said now the ugly face of India and its so-called claim of being a secular state had fully been exposed before the world.
Had Pakistan not adopted a proactive approach to effectively highlighting the lingering issue of Kashmir after the August 5 actions, he said, the world would have never realized the sinister designs of India in IIOJK.
“Now, it is the prime responsibility of the international community, especially the influential countries, to come forward and play their due role in giving the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir their legitimate right of self-determination, which has been denied since 1947,” he said in an interview with APP.
On February 5, Pakistanis and Kashmiris residing in all parts of the world would express complete solidarity with the people of IIOJK, reminding the international human rights ‘champions’ of their lawful and moral obligation of ensuring the right to self-determination to Kashmiris.
