Pakistan’s leadership reaffirms support for Kashmiris’ struggle

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has said that Pakistan will continue to extend its support to the Kashmiris in their just struggle for the right to self-determination.
Addressing a ceremony in connection with Kashmir Solidarity Day in Islamabad on Thursday, the president urged the United Nations and international community to play its due role in resolving the longstanding dispute.
The president said that here are numerous UN resolutions demanding plebiscite in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK). President Alvi said that over eight million people have been besieged in the occupied territory by nine hundred thousand Indian troops.
Separately, in a statement, Prime Minister Imran Khan called upon the world community to hold India accountable for its crimes against humanity in the IOK, reiterating Pakistan’s “unshakable” solidarity with the Kashmiri people.
“For its part, Pakistan will remain unshakable in its solidarity with the Kashmiri people until they realize their legitimate and inalienable right to self-determination, in accordance with the United Nations Charter and relevant UN Security Council resolutions. This is indispensable for durable peace and security in South Asia,” he said in his message to the nation on Kashmir Solidarity Day (February 5).
PM Imran reaffirmed Pakistan’s resolute support for the Kashmiri brothers and sisters, who continued to be subjected to an inhuman military siege and communications blockade since August 5, 2019.
He said the tragedy of the Kashmiris, however, went back more than seven decades as they had faced unabated repression and consistent denial of their fundamental rights by India.
“India must stop its brutal suppression of the Kashmiris, adhere to its international human rights obligations, and honour the commitment to Kashmiris to grant their inalienable right to self-determination through a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices,” the prime minister demanded.
He said that while observing the Solidarity Day, Pakistan saluted the unflinching resolve of Kashmiris in their valiant struggle for the right to self-determination, which was pledged to them by India, Pakistan and the international community.
PM Imran said that ever since India reneged on this commitment, it had sought to brutally suppress the Kashmiris’ quest for freedom.
The latest Indian attempts to further colonise the occupied Kashmir by altering its demography and obliterating the distinct Kashmiri identity were reflective of a sinister design to convert the Muslim majority into a minority, he added.
The said changes, he stated, were being carried out through promulgation of illegal domicile rules, changes in property laws, and downgrading the status of Urdu language. Incentives were being offered to outsiders to settle on the occupied land of the Kashmiris in violation of international law, particularly the 4th Geneva Convention.
The prime minister said that over eight million Kashmiris had been turned into prisoners in their own homes, with more than 900,000 occupation troops holding them hostage.
“History has few examples of such violation of fundamental rights. Thousands of Kashmiris have been arbitrarily detained. The Kashmiri youth are being particularly targeted through abductions, incarceration at undisclosed locations, indiscriminate use of pellet guns, and extra-judicial killings in fake encounters,” he remarked.
Calling it a “manifestation of Indian state-terrorism against innocent Kashmiris”, the prime minister called for immediate lifting of the military siege and communications blockade as well as rescinding of India’s illegal and unilateral actions in the IOK.
Moreover, he said, all those arbitrarily arrested and illegally incarcerated should be released and draconian laws providing impunity to the Indian occupation forces immediately repealed.
The prime minister demanded India to give access to the international human rights and humanitarian organisations, as well as the international media to investigate the grave human rights situation in the occupied territory.