Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that the whole Pakistani nation including the expatriate community comes together to reiterate their moral, diplomatic and political support to the people of the Indian-occupied Kashmir on the Kashmir Solidarity Day.
He said that February 5 provides a perfect occasion to pay rich tributes to the Kashmiri people for their unwavering resolve to get their right to self-determination. It is a day when walks, processions, and seminars are held to highlight the exemplary sacrifices that the Kashmiris are making for their inalienable right to self-determination, he added.
In his message on Kashmir Solidarity Day, the chief minister said that February 5 also serves as a reminder to the international community to fulfill their promise of giving the Kashmiris the right to determine their political future in accordance with the United Nations resolutions. In my view, Kashmir is an unfinished agenda of the partition, he added. To cap it all, the denial of right of self-determination to the people of the Kashmir represents the breech of moral, political and diplomatic conduct. Sharif said that the Kashmiris are justified to ask the international community as to why their fundamental rights have not been respected and why they continue to face repression just for demanding what the United Nations Charter perfectly sanctions.
Sharif said that the unlocking of South Asia’s natural and human potential is linked to resolution of the Kashmir issue. He said that durable peace and stability will remain elusive in the absence of conscious efforts of the South Asian countries to seek a negotiated settlement of their issues. He further said that dialogue between India and Pakistan is the only option to resolve all outstanding issues including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir. The chief minister said that the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has eagerly pursued the course of peace and engagement with India. The announcement of Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue offers the way forward for Pakistan and India to pick up the thread from where it was broken, he added.
The chief minister said that as we observe the Kashmir Solidarity Day on Friday, let us pledge to continue extending our political, moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiris in their just struggle for right to self-determination. Let our Kashmiri brothers and sisters know that they are not alone in their struggle, he added. He said that the whole nation stands in complete solidarity with them.
