President Dr Arif Alvi has reassured Pakistan’s continued political, diplomatic and moral support to the Kashmiris in their just struggle for right to self-determination in accordance with relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
In his message in connection with Kashmiris’ right to Self-Determination Day, today, the President said, “Today, Kashmiris around the world are observing the 74th anniversary of the Resolution adopted by the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP), providing that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute would be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices. In essence, it was a reaffirmation of the inalienable right of Kashmiris to self-determination which is enshrined in international law and upheld by international human rights instruments.”
On the other hand Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Thursday said that the international community should live up to its promises and take measures enabling the people of Jammu and Kashmir to exercise the right of self-determination as enshrined in UNSC resolutions. The foreign minister, in his message on the occasion of Right to Self-Determination Day annually observed on January 5, said the Day reminded the international community, especially the United Nations, of the imperative of honoring its commitment towards the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
“On the 5th of January every year, we renew our support for the right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. On this day in 1949, the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) unanimously adopted a resolution espousing the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people through a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations,” the foreign minister remarked.
He said the right to self-determination was a cardinal principle of international law that was upheld by international human rights instruments. It has been reaffirmed by the UN General Assembly in its annual resolution on self-determination, he added. He said the last 75 years of India’s occupation of IIOJK were a sad story of repression of the Kashmiri people. He said India had unleashed a reign of terror in IIOJK, and denied these oppressed people the right to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and lead a life of dignity. Since its illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019, India is engineering demographic and political changes in IIOJK to convert Kashmiris into a disempowered minority in their own land, he remarked.
The foreign minister said the international community must also call for an immediate cessation of human rights abuses and a reversal of measures by India to change the demographic structure of IIOJK. He reiterated that Pakistan remained determined to play its role to support the right to self-determination of Kashmiris through a free and impartial plebiscite in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions. “Our strong and steadfast moral, political and diplomatic support for the Kashmiri people will continue till the realization of this inalienable right,” he resolved.
