Pakistan has described as “a fantasy and a myth” New Delhi’s claim of progress, development and normalcy in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Munir Akram, speaking at the Kashmir solidarity webinar said that since August 05 2019 move by the Narendra Modi-led Indian government, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, sexual and gender-based violence and restrictions on freedom of expression and religion, among others, had accelerated, debunking the myth of normalcy.
“In the occupied territory, there is only one normality, i.e., normalization of violence,” the Pakistani envoy remarked in his address to the webinar held in connection with the “Youm-e-Istehsal”. He said that the Kashmir dispute must be resolved on the basis of United Nations Security Council resolutions that had granted the people of Kashmir the right to self-determination.
Participating in the webinar, organized by the Pakistan Mission to the UN in New York, representatives of key OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) countries also reaffirmed their support to the Kashmiris’ UN-pledged rights to self-determination. They included Saudi Ambassador Abdulaziz Alwasil, Azerbaijan Ambassador Yashar Aliyev, OIC Ambassador to the UN, Hameed Opeloyeru, and the Turkish Charge D’affairs, Onar Akran.
Among other panelists were: Dr Imtiaz Khan, a prominent Kashmiri leader; Abdelhamid Siyam, UN correspondent for al-Quds and university professor; and other Kashmir activists, including Dr Waleed Rasool, Dr Mujahid Gilani, Ahmed Bin Qasim, Wajid Sawar, and Ms Farrukh Avais.
A moving documentary on the Kashmiris’ struggle for freedom, produced by the Pakistan Mission, was also screened on the occasion.
In his opening remarks, Ambassador Akram said, “As part of the ‘final solution,’ the Indian government is not only imposing demographic change on Jammu and Kashmir but also promoting myth of normalcy in the name of promoting trade and tourism in IIOJK in violation of international law, including the Security Council resolutions.”
