Pakistan urges world to resolve Kashmir issue

• President, PM support right to self-determination for Kashmiri people

President Mamnoon Hussain has said the dream of peace and prosperity in the region will remain elusive without resolving the dispute of Jammu and Kashmir.
In his message to the nation on Kashmir Solidarity Day, the president called upon the international community to play its due role in seeking an end to the brutalities, violation of human rights and the reign of terror unleashed by Indian forces.

He also sought the world community’s role to force India to fulfil the promises it made to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and international community 70 years ago. He said on the day, Pakistan reiterates its unwavering political, moral and diplomatic support to the people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir in their struggle for the realisation of the inalienable right to self-determination, in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions.

“It is a matter of grave concern that Indian occupation forces are resorting to state terrorism, war crimes and intensified human rights violations to suppress the just struggle of the Kashmiri people,” he remarked.

The President House would also host the main ceremony of the day to be attended by the leadership from all political parties of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir and representatives from Occupied Kashmir. President Mamnoon Hussain would address the ceremony that would be a reflection of the national unity to express solidarity with the Kashmiri brethren.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said the people and Government of Pakistan reaffirm their continued unflinching moral, diplomatic and political support to the oppressed people of Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IoK) in their legitimate struggle in the face of increasing Indian brutalities and gross human rights violations.

“Pakistan calls upon the international community to urge India to respect the Human Rights Charter, put an immediate end to the gross human rights violations of innocent Kashmiris in the IoK and ensure expedited resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in line with the UNSC Resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. This is essential for regional peace and development,” he said in a message on the Kashmir Solidarity Day being observed on February 5.

The prime minister observed that even after the passage of more than seven decades, the people of Jammu and Kashmir had been deprived of the fundamental right to self-determination in stark contradiction to the promise made to them by the international community through the United Nations Security Council Resolutions.

Since July 2016, Indian atrocities had resulted in the killings of hundreds of innocent Kashmiris and injuring over 20,000. The unprecedented, inhuman use of pellet guns blinded more than 200 people, including women and young children depriving them of any chance of leading fulfilling lives, he added.

The prime minister said the Hurriyat leaders were being harassed on trumped-up charges. India refused to allow the visit of the team of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission of the OIC, which visited AJK in March 2017, to the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir thus denying the international community an opportunity to evaluate the situation on the ground.

“India obviously has much to hide. India is condoning the use of human shields in Indian occupied Kashmir, which finds no parallel in today’s world and reflects its practice of using brute force to suppress innocent Kashmiris,” he added.

Kashmir issue imperative for regional peace: Ayaz Sadiq

National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has said that Kashmir issue was not just a territorial dispute but a question of people’s inherent right to self-determination.

He said brute force and propaganda cannot gag the voice of freedom, nor it can alter Pakistan’s resolute and principled stance on Kashmir. He said this in his message on Kashmir Solidarity Day to be commemorated across Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir today (February 5) to express solidarity with the Kashmiri brethren, said a press release here on Sunday.

Referring to the future of South Asia and Kashmir dispute, the speaker remarked that peace in South Asia will remain elusive when world’s so-called largest democracy unleash brute force against the people of Kashmir.

He added that it was ironic that the international community stood as a silent spectator while India reneged on UN resolutions and launched violence, fake encounters, enforced disappearances, molestation, murders and the use of pellet guns against the defenseless population as India’s officially sanctioned policy in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

He urged the United Nations and the international community to ensure the implementation of its own resolutions on Kashmir and ensure its own relevance in international disputes resolutions.

Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi also reaffirmed that Pakistan would continue to provide unflinching moral, diplomatic and political support to the Kashmir cause at various international forums. He added that Pakistan is a voice of the oppressed Kashmiris and will continue to stand with the Kashmiri brethren through every thick and thin.

Senator Raja Muhammad Zafar-ul-Haq on Sunday said that the world could not sleep in peace without resolving the Kashmir issue. In an exclusive interview with PTV News, he said Kashmir was Pakistan’s jugular vein and the country was incomplete without it.

Sacrifices rendered by the Kashmiri people would not go waste and Kashmir would become part of Pakistan, he added. He urged India to honour the resolutions of the United Nations by giving the people of Kashmir the right to self-determination.

All political parties of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) pledged to stand affirm with Kashmiris in their struggle for freedom and demanded early resolution of long-standing dispute from the all International community according to United Nations’ resolutions and aspirations of the Kashmiri people.

PML-N Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Chaudhry Muhammad Saeed said that people of AJK condemned the brutalities being committed by Indian occupying forces against innocent Kashmiris, who had been struggling for self-determination since the separation of sub-continent.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) AJK President Ch Lateef Akbar called upon the global community, especially the Muslim Ummah, to stand up and raise voices for the oppressed people of Indian occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IOK).

Arif Abbasi of Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf MLA also thanked Pakistan for their support and said that February 5 is a evidence of Pakistan support.

He urged the Pakistan media to highlight the plight of Kashmiries on daily basis and convey the message of Indian atrocities being committed in Kashmir to the international community. He condemned frightful human rights violation, extrajudicial killing, torture and detention.