PRIME Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif is addressing the annual session of UN General Assembly (UNGA) today, 27 September 2024. Before his formal address to the UNGA, he met the leaders of various states and heads of international institutions. During his key meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Premier Sharif emphasized to him to play a role towards implementation of UN Resolutions on Kashmir. Unfortunately, despite passage of 77 years, the UN has not been able to implement its own resolutions over Jammu and Kashmir which provides India an opportunity to manipulate the affairs of the occupied state in its favour.
Premier Sharif asked the UN Chief to give Kashmiris their right to self-determination. He also apprised the UN Secretary General about massive human rights violations of Kashmiris by Indian occupation forces. The Prime Minister will also highlight dynamics of Kashmir dispute and Kashmiri’s right of self-determination during his formal address to the UNGA. While apprising the global leadership about contemporary dimensions of Kashmir dispute, Prime Minister should dwell upon the restoration of pre-August 5, 2019 status (special status under Article 370) of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
On August 5, 2019, India unilaterally and illegally annexed IIOJK into the Indian Union, downgrading its statehood to union territories. The second dimension of Kashmir should be the grant of the right of self-determination to people of Kashmir as promised by the UN in its resolutions. Indeed, the establishment of the United Nations Organisation (UNO) at the end of World War-II was the most noble and extraordinary act undertaken by the global leadership to avoid another catastrophic world war. The Charter of UNO was further distinguished with the inclusion of an exceptional humanitarian clause: the ‘right of self-determination’ which was unique in nature and can be attributed to Divinity. Ever since the decolonization of the Subcontinent in 1947, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been demanding their right of self-determination. Kashmiri trace back this prized right from the resolutions of United Nations which were derivative of it and got accredited from the Charter of this world body. Owing to its paramount significance, the right of self-determination was secured in article 1 of the UN Charter with a universal application, where Kashmiris cannot be made as an exception and kept deprived of this right for ever.
The global decolonization, started immediately after the establishment of the United Nations in 1945 owed a lot to the right of self-determination. This right is the legal right of the people for deciding their future destination. It fits into the main theme of 79th Session of UNGA which states, “Leaving no one behind: acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for present and future generations”. The UN must take this theme as the baseline for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute too. Indeed, right of self-determination is the essence of international law, arising from customary international law, secured in a number of international treaties and agreements. Kashmiri’s right of self-determination is also secured in UN resolutions, treaties and commitments of Indian leadership. In the light of the UN mandated right to self-determination, the people of Jammu and Kashmir too had a right to determine their own destiny, their own political status and their own economic, cultural and social development model. United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) through its Resolution of January 5, 1949 guaranteed a free and fair plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir with the sole objective of granting the people of Jammu and Kashmiri their right to self-determination. This is the inalienable right; the people of Jammu and Kashmir had in 1947 and valid today in 2024.
The only obstacle in the exercise of this right is Indian obduracy and its illegal occupation of IIOJK, which has constantly caused a barrier since the passage of UNCIP Resolution on 05 January 1949. Since its establishment in 1945, the United Nations ensures grant of this right to over 100 states which is clear from UN membership. The UN had 51 countries as its members in October 1945 and today in 2024, there are over 193 countries forming the member states of this world body. In all cases, the right of self-determination formed the basis of such a large international community.
The only question people of Jammu and Kashmir ask today from the UN and its 193 member States is why they have been deprived from this inalienable right of self-determination, enshrined in the UN Charter and UNCIP Resolutions on Kashmir. Indeed, after passage of this resolution (13 August 1948), India and Pakistan gave their recommendations for the smooth conduct of plebiscite in the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir which were incorporated in the resolution of 05 January 1949. This UNCIP resolution was unanimously adopted by members of the commission thus had no confusion in implementation. India took the Kashmir dispute to the UN on the sole plea that Maharaja of Kashmir had acceded to India. The UN resolutions were indeed the rejection of the Indian stance over Kashmir.
Today, India is cognizant of the fact that, despite its brutal use of force and massive human rights violations in IIOJK, it can neither suppress the popular will of Kashmiris nor can it deprive them from attaining their long-awaited right of self-determination. Since 2019, India is making demographic changes in IIOJK which is yet another violation of UN Charter, UN resolutions on Kashmir, Fourth Geneva Convention and International Law. United Nations, major powers and international community must play their role for the end of Indian occupation in IIOJK and grant of right of self-determination to Kashmiris in the light of UN resolutions.
— The writer is Professor of Politics and IR at International Islamic University, Islamabad.
