Provincial Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Affairs Khalil Tahir Sandhu has said that the only resolution to the Kashmir dispute was to give the right of self-determination to the people of Indian Occupied Kashmir.
The Punjab government fully supports all efforts being made by national and international human activist organisations, and appeals to the international community to stop the brutalities afflicted on unarmed Kashmiris, he said.
The minorities’ minister stated this during a meeting with a delegation of the London-based Jammu and Kashmir Council for Human Rights (JKCHR) led by its president Dr Syed Nazir Gilani here on Monday.
JKCHR President Gilani briefed the meeting regarding the atrocities of the Indian forces in occupied Kashmir and said that Kashmiris were being killed, tortured, raped, and persecuted daily in their own land.
However, they reaffirmed their conviction that India would never succeed in suppressing the Kashmiri freedom movement and Kashmiris’ overwhelming affiliation with Pakistan. Dr Gilani said that the JKCHR was the only NGO which represented Kashmiris from both sides of the cease-fire line and which had a special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Khalil Tahir Sandhu appreciated the efforts of the organisation for the protection and promotion of the rights of Kashmiris and said that Pakistan had made effective diplomatic efforts for the resolution of the Kashmir issue, adding that the Punjab government was committed to supporting the people of Kashmir on moral and ethical grounds.
Minister Sandhu informed the delegation that the provincial government had helped reach a consensus on the national level for a vibrant and comprehensive diplomacy policy at the global level to seek international support for Kashmiri’s right to self-determination and assert Pakistan’s principled stand on Kashmir.
The minister directed the Punjab human rights and minorities’ affairs department to draft a comprehensive report in line with the suggestions and recommendations of the JKCHR to be represented to Punjab Chief Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif for the formulation of a more effective and result oriented roadmap to speed up international lobbying for the Kashmiri cause.
JKCHR Spain Chapter President Zahid Hussain Syed, Regional Office Bearer Mudassar Butt, Punjab Human Rights and Minorities Affairs Secretary Asim Iqbal, Additional Secretary Shabir Bhatti, and other officials of the department were also present during the meeting.
