Staff Reporter
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz has said that the Government and people of Pakistan have always supported their Kashmiri brethren during the last seven decades, and would continue to do so until the Kashmiris succeed in their struggle for their inalienable right to self-determination.
Speaking at the Kashmir Solidarity Day Photographic Exhibition at Foreign Office on Thursday, he said that Pakistan under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan has rejected India’s illegal actions of August 5, 2019 and highlighted the humanitarian, legal and peace and security dimensions of the issue at international level.
Shibli Faraz said that the prime minister has reached out international leaders, global institutions, the UN, the OIC and forcefully raised the Jammu & Kashmir dispute on all multilateral and international fora.
“Our efforts to project the Kashmir cause have not gone unnoticed. United Nations Security Council has discussed the Jammu & Kashmir dispute three times since 5 August 2019. UN Secretary General has affirmed multiple times that the position of the United Nations on Jammu & Kashmir is governed by the Charter of the United Nations and applicable Security Council resolutions. World leaders, international human rights organizations as well as the media have been at one in condemnation of the lockdown by Indian occupation forces in IIOJK”, he added.
The Information Minister said that the struggle and expression of solidarity will go on until the purpose is fulfilled – providing Kashmiris their right to self-determination in line with the UNSC resolutions.
Pakistan has repeatedly expressed its desire for peace but unfortunately, India has vitiated the atmosphere with its illegal and unilateral measures of August 5, 2019 in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK), he maintained.
Shibli said that such a situation cannot be allowed to linger anymore and it was time that international community took cognizance of the ill-will of India, and its evil designs to usurp the rights of Kashmiris in IIOJK
“We stand by our Kashmiri brethren in their just struggle for the right to self-determination and each passing day our support for the innocent Kashmiris will be further strengthened”, he remarked.
The Information Minister appreciated the photographic exhibition organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which among other facets of life also highlights the cultural/scenic beauty of the IIOJK
Kashmir, he said no doubt was a heaven on earth which unfortunately has been turned into a hell by the cruel and inhuman treatment meted out to the Kashmiri people by the Indian security forces backed by the Indian Government.
Shibli said during events organized over the past few days the international community has witnessed the magnificent show of solidarity with Kashmiris by the Pakistanis at home and abroad.
However, he made it clear that expression of solidarity with the Kashmiri people is not a one-time event or activity, it has never been so.
