The civil and military leadership as well as people of Pakistan have all along been supporting the just, unarmed and indigenous struggle of Kashmiris for securing their fundamental right of self-determination in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions which India persistently has continued to deny for more than seven decades blatantly. Pakistan has been extending all possible political, diplomatic and moral support to the Kashmiris in this regard and the longest unresolved, lingering and burning Kashmir issue on the UN agenda is being raised at all international forums and gatherings, calling for its earliest solution in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people.
Indian-Occupied Kashmir continues to be the main bone of contention between the two neighbouring nuclear powers and the Kashmiris are being suppressed and oppressed at gunpoint by he almost 900,000-strong Indian occupation forces equipped with ruthless and brutal powers.
Islamophobia is another pernicious phenomenon which has emerged and threatens the Islamic world in recent years increasingly. In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as terrorism has somehow been associated with Islam by some quarters and this trend is growing quite alarmingly increasing, with the tendency of right-wing, xenophobic and violent nationalists, extremists and terrorist groups to target Muslims.
Rapid developments taking place in neighbouring Afghanistan during last couple of months have made that place another important issue of concern for Pakistani leadership which has all along been acting as a facilitator for bringing the USA and the Taliban at the negotiation table, finally succeeding in bringing them face to face in Doha in February this year, paving the way for peaceful settlement of the issue. The Taliban were in Kabul after 20 years, having formed the interim government and trying to form an inclusive government .
The Prime Minister has given a wake up call to the international community through these words. But will the international community listen and act soon before it is too late and disaster strikes not only Afghanistan but also the region? The Taliban are there and they need to be helped in overcoming the problematic situation as early as possible and this can only be done with immediate humanitarian assistance provided by the international community
These were the main topics along with a couple of others when Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed the UN General Assembly virtually the other day.
The Prime Minister said that the UN Global Counter Terrorism Strategy has duly recognized these emerging threats and called for convening a global dialogue by the world body on countering the rise of Islamophobia and as a parallel effort at the same time interfaith harmony should be promoted in a continuous manner.
He pointedly stated that the worst and most pervasive form of Islamophobia now rules India, the hate-filled Hindutva ideology, propagated by the fascist RSS-BJP regime under the leadership of Narendra Modi, which has unleashed a reign of fear and violence against India’s 200-million- strong Muslim community, discriminatory citizenship laws to purge India of Muslims and a campaign to destroy mosques across India and obliterate its Muslim heritage and history, were all part of this criminal enterprise.
The Prime Minister also pointed out the actions which New Delhi has also embarked upon, calling them the “final solution” for the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and accordingly has undertaken a series of illegal and unilateral measures in occupied Jammu and Kashmir since 5 August,2019; unleashed a reign of terror by an occupation force of 900000; has jailed senior leadership of Kashmiris; imposed a clampdown on media and internet; violently suppressed peaceful protests; abducted pretty large number of 13000 young Kashmiris and tortured hundreds of them; extra-judicially killed hundreds of innocent Kashmiris in fake encounters, and imposed collective punishments by destroying entire neighbourhoods and villages.
He also made a mention of detailed dossier which has recently been unveiled by the Pakistan Government on gross and systematic violations of human rights by the Indian Security Forces in Indian-Occupied Kashmir and said that this repression was accompanied by illegal efforts to change the demographic structure of the Indian-Occupied Kashmir, transforming it in a planned manner from a Muslim majority into a Muslim minority.
The UNGA was told in emphatic words that the Indian actions violated the resolutions of the UN Security Council on Jammu and Kashmir which clearly stated that the final disposition of the disputed territory should be decided by its people through a free and impartial plebiscite held under UN auspices. Quite obviously, India’s actions in the occupied Kashmir territory also violated the International Human Rights and Humanitarian Laws including the Fourth Geneva Convention and as such also amounted to committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
PM Imran Khan further stated in plain words and these ought to be quoted as such “It is unfortunate, very unfortunate, that the world’s approach to violations of human rights lacks even-handedness, and even is selective. Geopolitical considerations, or corporate interests, commercial interests often compel major powers to overlook the transgressions of their affiliated countries.” The apathy of the international community towards gross human rights violations in Occupied Kashmir could not be criticized and condemned in stronger and plainer words than which have been quoted here to make things clear.
Reiterating the desire for peace with India like all its neighbours, the Prime Minister pointedly stated that sustainable peace in South Asia was contingent only upon resolution of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions, (adopted way back in 1948), and the wishes of the Kashmiri people, for creating a conducive environment and result-oriented engagement with Pakistan, India must reverse its unilateral and illegal measures instituted since 5 August 2019, stop its oppression and human rights violations against the people of Kashmir and halt and reverse the demographic changes in the occupied territory. He also stressed the need for preventing another conflict between Pakistan and India, pointing out and sounding a warning, “India’s military build-up, development of advanced nuclear weapons, and acquisition of destabilizing conventional capabilities. Can erode mutual deterrence between the two countries.” Both neighbouring countries are nuclear powers and Kashmir continues to be a nuclear flashpoint till its solution.
Dilating on the situation in Afghanistan and developments there during last many years, PM Imran Khan strongly rebutted the blame being levelled on Pakistan by some politicians in the USA as well as in Europe, and pointedly stated that the country that suffered the most , apart from Afghanistan, was Pakistan when it joined the US War on Terror after 9/11: Pakistan as a front line state in this war on terror suffered heavy losses— 80000 Pakistanis died, $ 150 billion were lost to the national economy and there were also 3.5 million internally displaced Pakistanis.
Pakistan has all along been stressing on peaceful settlement in Afghanistan through negotiations as there would be no military solution but over the years none has bothered to understand it.
Sounding a warning and pointedly mentioning that it was a critical time in Afghanistan, the Prime Minister quite emphatically called on the international community “We must strengthen and stabilize the current government, for the sake of the people of Afghanistan”, and if we neglected Afghanistan right now, half the people of Afghanistan were already vulnerable as per the UN report and by next year almost 90 percent of them would be going below the poverty line.
One cannot help but support Prime Minister Imran Khan , who has been following developments in Afghanistan for years together, when he calls for providing humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan immediately without wasting time as help is needed there and concluding by saying “ There is a huge humanitarian crisis looming ahead, this will have serious repercussions not just for the neighbours of Afghanistan but everywhere as a destabilized, chaotic Afghanistan will again become a safe haven for international terrorists —the reasons why the US came there in the first place”. The Prime Minister has given a wake up call to the international community through these words. But will the international community listen and act soon before it is too late and disaster strikes not only Afghanistan but also the region? The Taliban are there and they need to be helped in overcoming the problematic situation as early as possible and this can only be done with immediate humanitarian assistance provided by the international community.
