Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Senators Tuesday called for settlement of Kashmir issue according to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions saying India had made the lives of Kashmiris miserable by imposing an indefinite curfew, lockdown and curtailing media freedom in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Speaking on a motion to discuss unabated curfew and lockdown in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K), and the future strategy of the Government of Pakistan in that regard in the Senate, its mover Leader of the Opposition Raja Zafarul Haq said despite lapse 100 days since the imposition of curfew, the situation in the IOJ&K was deteriorating with each passing day. There was no let-up in the miseries of the innocent Kashmiri people, he added.
He said there was unanimity among all the political parties over the Kashmir issue and the policy over the dispute should be revisited. He said India had included even Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan in its map, besides threatening to stop flow of river water into Pakistan. Zafarul Haq said the Kashmir issue had been on the agenda of UN since 1947. The right to self-determination was fundamental right of Kashmiri people, which was guaranteed by the UN Charter, he added.
However, he regretted that the UN had totally failed to stop Indian forces’ atrocities on innocent Kashmiri people. India was also a signatory to the UN resolutions on Kashmir, while the role of UN was also mentioned in the Shimla agreement four times, he added. Farooq H Naeq of the Pakistan Peoples Party said India had itself presented a resolution in the United Nations for carrying out a plebiscite in Kashmir. Unfortunately, the UN had failed to implement its resolutions on Kashmir, he added.
He suggested that the government should stress for implementing the UN resolutions on Kashmir instead any mediation by the United States president. He called upon the international community to play its due role and provide the media access to the occupied valley, besides revoking all back laws.
