Srinagar
In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Hurriayt leaders and organizations have called upon the United Nations and the international community to fulfill their pledge by granting the Kashmiris their basic right, right to self-determination.
Senior Hurriyat leader Ghulam Muhammad Khan Sopori, in a statement issued in Srinagar on the eve of the adoption of January 5, 1949, UN Security Council’s resolution on Self-Determination of the Kashmiris urged international human rights organizations to investigate the grave human rights violations by Indian troops in occupied Kashmir, including the January 6, 1993 Sopore massacre when the occupation troops martyred 57 innocent Kashmiris and detonated more than 400 houses and shops in the town. He said that India is violating basic human rights of Kashmiris as the international community, including the United Nations, has maintained a criminal silence on its crimes against Kashmiris. He said that inhumane treatment of Kashmiri detainees was part of India’s aggressive and cruel policy. Khan Sopori said that the resolution of the Security Council dated January 5, 1949 guaranteed a lasting and peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute but lamented that the United Nations had not yet implemented its own resolution.
Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference Chairman Shabbir Ahmed Dar, rights defender Muhammad Ahsan Untoo, Jammu and Kashmir Young Mens League Imtiyaz Ahmed Reshi, Tehreek-e- Istiqlal Chairman Gulam Nabi Wasim and Tehreek-e-Istiqamat Chairman Ghulam Nabi War in a joint statement said that 5th January 1949 is a historic day in the resistance history of Jammu Kashmir as on this the world community acknowledged that Jammu Kashmir is a disputed territory and its residents have the right to decide their future. They said that the UN resolutions provide strong foundations for the current resistance movement and give the right to people of Jammu Kashmir to correct the mistakes of 1947 when they were misrepresented by a ruler who had lost moral and political authority to decide on behalf of people of Jammu and Kashmir. The leaders made a joint appeal to the United Nations General Secretary to help in implementing 5th January 1949 resolution as the resolutions on East Timor and South Sudan were implemented.
Khawaja Firdous, leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference and Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Political Movement, in a statement issued in Srinagar deplored that this resolution has not been implemented despite the lapse of more than seven decades since it was passed. He said that due to the silence of the international community, India has crossed all limits of oppression and violence against unarmed Kashmiris. Instead of resolving the Kashmir dispute, India has resorted to clever tactics to prolong its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir, he added.
Khawaja Firdous said that in fact India only wants Kashmir’s land and has planned to evict Kashmiris from their homeland by adopting Israeli tactics. He urged the United Nations and the international community to play their key role in finding a lasting solution to the long-standing Kashmir dispute through the implementation of UN Security Council resolution adopted on January 5, 1949.
Abdul Samad Inqalabi, Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Islami Tanzeem-e-Azadi, in a letter addressed to UN Secretary General António Guterres called upon him to play his role in preventing India from perpetrating atrocities on unarmed Kashmiris. He asked the UN chief to resolve the long-pending Kashmir dispute through a free and fair plebiscite to be held in accordance with UN Security Council resolution passed on January 5, 1949. He apprised the UN Secretary General about the massacre and widespread arrest of Kashmiri people by Indian troops. Inqalabi said that all the basic rights and freedoms of Kashmiris have been taken away in the occupied territory.—KMS
