PAKISTAN on Thursday warned India against taking any further steps regarding India-occupied Kashmir (IoK), saying it could “imperil regional peace and security”.
Addressing a weekly press briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said that India must revisit its unlawful and destabilizing actions in the IoK and ensure full compliance with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.
The fresh warning comes in the backdrop of consistent reports that India was planning further division, bifurcation and demographic changes in the IoK to perpetuate its illegal occupation.
The expected moves by New Delhi also coincide with widespread reports from different parts of India indicating a dramatic dent in the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as also reflected in BJP’s defeat in West Bengal state elections amid record Covid-19 deaths and cases.
Analysts believe he was contemplating to take further illegal measures to strengthen illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir to regain popularity with extremist Hindus.
It is satisfying that the Government of Pakistan was not just opposing the move and warning India but is also instrumental in sensitizing the international community on the latest situation and its implications for regional peace.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, whose Government earlier extended an olive branch to India during the last few months, reacted sharply to reports about Modi’s plan to further colonize the occupied territory declaring that Pakistan would not hold talks with New Delhi until and unless it reverses its illegal actions.
Pakistan has also been reminding the UN Security Council of its responsibility for a peaceful and just settlement of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UNSC resolutions.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has also written letters to the President of the UNSC and the United Nations Secretary General to apprise the UN leadership of Pakistan’s concerns on these developments.
All this is reiteration of the resolve of Pakistan to continue providing all possible support to the people of IoK in their just struggle for the realization of their inalienable right to self-determination.
However, we would urge the Foreign Office as well as the national leadership that mere issuance of statements and expression of solidarity with Kashmiris would not suffice and hectic efforts should be made for initiation of practical moves at relevant forums with the support of just minded states of the globe to pressurize India not just to reverse its illegal actions but also grant right of self-determination to Kashmiris as pledges in the relevant UN resolutions.
