Pakistan’s permanent ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Maleeha Lodhi has said that the brave people of Kashmir have shown that ‘Right is Might’ by defeating all Indian moves to suppress the reality of a brutal occupation.
She was speaking at a special event held in New York to mark Solidarity Day with the people of occupied Kashmir. A photo exhibition was also organised showing the barbarity of human rights violations in occupied Kashmir.
Ambassador Lodhi said, “For us every day is a day of solidarity with our Kashmiri brothers and sisters who have launched a heroic struggle against Indian occupation.”
“The dark and forbidding night of this brutal oppression is fleeting and will inevitably lead to a dawn of freedom and dignity. This long night of oppression cannot last in the face of the courage of the people of Kashmir.”
She said India had been frustrated in its effort to conceal the reality that Kashmir never was and never will be part of India.
Briefing the participants about recent steps taken by the government to highlight the Kashmir dispute, Ambassador Lodhi said that during the recent visit of the President of the UN General Assembly to Pakistan the Kashmir issue was forcefully raised in all her meetings with Pakistan ‘s leadership, including by the president, the prime minister and the foreign minister.
Pakistan would continue to expend diplomatic, political and moral support to the legitimate cause of the Kashmiri people, she said.
“Peace in our region cannot be achieved without a just settlement of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the resolutions of the Security Council and the wishes of the Kashmiri people.”
She also said that Prime Minister Imran Khan spoke with the UN secretary general in December in the wake of atrocities carried out by Indian forces and called for renewed and sustained efforts by the UN for a just settlement of dispute.
Pakistan, she said, would continue to expend diplomatic, political and moral support to the legitimate cause of the Kashmiri people.
Ambassador Lodhi also highlighted the landmark report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights that detailed systematic violations of human rights in occupied Kashmir. The report, she said, has also been endorsed by the Secretary General of the UN who had termed it as the ‘voice’ of the UN.
The time had come for the report’s recommendation for an independent commission of inquiry to be implemented. She said that international public opinion is sympathetic to the Kashmiri cause. “The challenge now is to turn this public goodwill into a political expression of support”, she added.
The event at the mission was attended by members of Kashmiri and Pakistani community leaders who also spoke about Indian atrocities in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir and urged the international community to play its role and raise its voice against the grave human rights situation in the occupied territory.
Published in Daily Times, February 7th 2019.
