As people of Kashmir still brave killings, detentions, heavy military deployment, and communication blackout by India, Pakistan is again set to become the voice of the oppressed on February 5.
In order to reiterate its support to the oppressed people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), Pakistan will observe the annual Kashmir Solidarity Day next Friday. The Day marks events, protests, and human chains to express solidarity with the Kashmiri people in their decades-old struggle for the right to self-determination as per the resolutions of the United Nations.
On this day, the leadership of Pakistan, Kashmir as well as civil society urges the UN, international community, and major powers to exert their pressure on India for resolution of Kashmir issue – a nuclear flashpoint in the region.
This year too, the Day is being observed with the hope that the international community will realize the plight of Kashmiri brethren and pressure India for resolution of the Kashmir issue.
Kashmiris are struggling for self-determination for more than 70 years. Even Father of the Nation Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, during his visit to Srinagar in 1946, had declared Kashmir the jugular vein of Pakistan.
During their freedom struggle, thousands of Kashmiris have sacrificed their lives for this cause and thousands are kept under illegal detention.
Though the Indian forces had been subjugating the rights of Kashmiri people for decades, the territory has emerged as an epicenter of human rights abuses by Indian forces.
India has repeatedly betrayed Kashmiri people by overthrowing the elected government and revoking the special status of IIOJK. India has embarked upon suppressing and muzzling the Kashmiri people through massive military presence under the draconian law of the ‘Armed Forces Special Powers Act’. Rape, torture, denial of basic needs, unlawful detention, raids, and disappearances have been amplified by Indian forces as tools of state-sponsored terrorism.
However, the scenario in IIOJK has worsened after the extremist Hindutva-led BJP government assumed power. The BJP led government revoked the special status of the IIOJK in violations of the UN resolutions on the dispute.
A couple of days ago, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated his call for nuclear-armed India and Pakistan to “come together and seriously discuss their problems” stemming from the unresolved Kashmir dispute. Responding to a question, the UN chief warned that there was no “military solution” to the decades-old conflict. “It is clear when seeing Pakistan and India, any military confrontation between the two would be a disaster of unmitigated proportions for both countries and for the whole world,” he warned.
