Pakistan on Friday called upon the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to exercise its legal and moral authority for implementation of its resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir dispute guaranteeing an inalienable right to self-determination.
As the country observed annual Kashmir Solidarity Day, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi approached the UNSC president and the UN secretary general to apprise them of India’s continuing gross and systematic violations of human rights in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
As part of Pakistan’s sustained diplomatic outreach, he also apprised them of India’s unlawful campaign to colonise the occupied territory, and its belligerent and hostile actions against Pakistan, including persistent ceasefire violations, which posed a threat to peace and security.
The foreign minister, in his letter addressed to the UNSC president and the UN secretary general, underscored that all unilateral and illegal measures taken by India in the occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir in violation of international law, including relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and the 4th Geneva Convention, such as changes in the demographic structure, usurpation of land and farcical “elections”, were null and void, according to a Foreign Office press release.
Drawing attention to India’s perpetration of terrorism and subversion against Pakistan, Foreign Minister Qureshi recalled the detailed dossier presented to the United Nations containing irrefutable evidence of India’s active planning, promoting, aiding, abetting, financing and execution of terrorist activities against Pakistan.
India’s smear campaign to malign Pakistan internationally revealed through the EU DisinfoLab report had also been brought to the attention of the Security Council, he added.
The foreign minister noted that the recent exposé of transcripts in the Indian media further established its orchestration of “false flag” operations and belligerent actions for domestic political and electoral gains.
He also apprised the Security Council of alarming incident in December 2020 of firing upon a clearly marked vehicle of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), threatening the safety and security of UN peacekeepers and impeding the fulfilment of their mandate.
The foreign minister called upon the Security Council to urge India to immediately lift the continuing military siege, and rescind the illegal and unilateral actions in the IIOJK, remove restrictions on communications, movement and peaceful assembly, and release incarcerated Kashmiri political leaders.
He also called for freeing all arbitrarily and illegally detained Kashmiris, freezing and reversal of new domicile rules and property laws designed to change the demographic structure of IIOJK, and remove the draconian laws enabling Indian occupation forces to continue human rights violations with impunity, including extrajudicial killings in fake encounters.
Moreover, the foreign minister asked the UNSC to urge India to allow access to the occupied territory to the UN observers, international human rights and humanitarian organisations, observers and the international media.
The letter by the foreign minister is part of Pakistan’s continuous efforts to keep the UN Security Council and the Secretary General fully apprised of the grave situation in the IIOJK and the threat it poses to peace and security in the region.
The top diplomat on Thursday said Kashmir was a state issue and was not limited to a political party or government even though each country had economic and trade interests.
“P5 [the permanent members of United Nations Security Council] understand the position of Pakistan taken on the Kashmir issue and Kashmiris should not lose hope, as the entire nation stands by the oppressed people of India Occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” the minister had said in an interview the other day.
