The lawmakers from Parliament, provincial legislatures, Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan came together on Wednesday to call upon the United Nations to constitute an independent inquiry commission to investigate and fix responsibility for crimes against humanity in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IOK). The development surfaced at the National Parliamentarians' Conference on Kashmir organised by the Senate of Pakistan under the leadership of Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani.
President of Pakistan Arif Alvi, President AJK Sardar Masood Khan, Prime Minister AJK Raja Farooq Haider, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Human Rights Minister Dr Shireen Mazari as well as other top government functionaries, speakers and chairmen of respective legislative houses, members of National Assembly (MNAs), senators, members of provincial assembly (MPAs) from the four provinces and members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from AJK and GB attended the event. PM Imran Khan, however, was conspicuous by his absence from the moot. A joint declaration issued after the moot named 'Islamabad Declaration' put weight behind the Kashmiris in IOK and demanded resolution of Kashmir issue in accordance with the UN resolutions.
The declaration urged the international community, parliaments around the world, the IPU (Inter-Parliamentary Union), and CPA (Commonwealth Parliamentary Union) to "take strict notice of all unlawful acts on part of India and demand Indian government to roll back and check its unlawful moves as well as human rights violations and state-sponsored terror in the occupied territory for the sake of peace, stability and rule of law in the region."
It denounced imprisonment and house arrest of IOK's political leadership as well as arbitrary arrest of thousands of Kashmiris.
The declaration condemned the unprovoked Indian shelling and use of cluster ammunitions on the Line of Control (LoC) resulting in "loss of precious lives in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir, threatening world peace, stability and order."
It called upon India to put an end to its reign of terror in IOK by lifting curfew, opening communications linkages, releasing political prisoners, restoring fundamental freedom and liberties, abolishing inhuman emergency laws, and constituting Commission of Inquiry, as recommended by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to bring to justice those responsible for human rights violations.
The declaration reiterated Pakistan's unconditional support to Kashmiri people in their just struggle for right to self-determination and freedom from suppression and Indian subjugation.
It termed India's "illegal and unilateral actions a blatant breach of international law and United Nations Security Council resolutions."
The Islamabad Declaration condemned the serious crimes against humanity, forced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, torture, usage of pellet guns and rapes by Indian occupation forces.
It lamented the looming humanitarian crisis in the occupied valley "where more than eight million Kashmiris remain under curfew and siege, facing deprivation and shortage of basic amenities, food supplies and lifesaving medicines, risking the lives of the sick and the wounded."
The declaration acknowledged the support of international community, UN bodies, human rights groups, EU (European Union), OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation), China, Iran and Turkey, and lawmakers from United States and United Kingdom on Kashmir issue.
The document stressed that humanitarian organisations as well as international media should be given full access to IOK.
The declaration demanded India to grant people of IOK their right to self-determination and fulfill its obligations as per the United Nations Security Council resolutions and various human rights instruments.
It urged the UN Human Rights Council to authorize the Office of the High Commissioner and the Council's Special Procedures Mandate Holders to monitor and report India's human rights.
Speaking at the event, President Alvi termed the conference another landmark development after Parliament's joint session of Kashmir organised last month. "From this forum, the entire world would know that Pakistan's elected representatives are united, irrespective of political divide, and stand shoulder to shoulder on the issue of Kashmir. The entire world sees this remarkable demonstration of exemplary unity. Our strength lies in unity. Together, we can raise the strongest voice not only to have the Indian forces' atrocities in IOK stopped but for the resolution of Kashmir dispute as per the aspirations of Kashmiris."
President AJK Masood Khan said that Indian parliament's move to repeal Articles 370 and 35A to deprive the State of Jammu & Kashmir of its special status has added fuel to fire, to ignite unrest in the occupied valley. "Kashmiris want nothing less than liberation from India and its atrocious regime. For us, it's not about a piece of land, it's about humanity and India is in habit of degrading humanity when it comes to the rights of Kashmir. For more than one-and-half month, Kashmiris are locked down in their homes with the imposition of round-the-clock curfew and are denied of even the basic amenities of life."
Throwing a challenge to Indian PM, Foreign Minister Qureshi said, "Modi, if you have courage-I dare you to address a public gathering in Srinagar like Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed a gigantic public gathering in Muzaffarabad just recently."
PM Imran Khan would assertively highlight the Kashmir issue at the floor of United Nations General Assembly on September 27, he said.
According to Qureshi, UN Security Council's consultative meeting on Kashmir, the first in the last 54 years, is a milestone "achieved in the towering leadership of PM Khan."
Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani said the Parliament would continue to play its role in forging political and parliamentary unity to highlight Kashmir issue. On the other hand, he said, India is internally divided on Kashmir and political parties as well as public circles are criticizing the extremist policies of Indian PM Modi that are driven by Hindu extremist ideology. The Indian Supreme Court has also opposed the Indian government's measures to stop the leaders of opposition parties from reaching Kashmir, he said.
Human Rights Minister Dr Shireen Mazari said the Indian occupation forces are inflicting third degree torture on the people of the occupied valley. "The youth of Kashmir are tortured to death. The women are being assaulted and the children are left paralyzed," she said.
Mazari said children are the main victims of pellet guns in IOK. "Even the innocent children have not been spared by the brutal Indian military. The situation in IOK is too serious to even imagine. The occupied valley has become the largest prison of human beings due to the inhuman practices meted out at the innocent civilians by the occupation forces," the minister said.
She said it is the foremost responsibility of UN's humanitarian bodies like UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to respond to humanitarian crisis in IOK. "The UN must intervene to stop the bloodshed in the occupied valley and to provide them humanitarian assistance as early as possible. The curfew in IOK has continued for more than 45 days. This necessitates the urgency to provide humanitarian assistance in the shortest possible time because millions of Kashmiris are in dire need of humanitarian assistance."
The PM AJK said, "We are waiting for the Prime Minister of Pakistan's speech at UNGA on 27th of this month. We will decide future line of action after the speech."
Farooq Haider equated Modi with Adolf Hitler, saying, "Modi is propagating a slogan of nationalism in the same manner adopted by Hitter. Hitler started its occupation from Czechoslovakia and his designs were not understood by Stallion and Chamberlin but incidents afterward proved that Hitler wanted to impose its ideology on others by use of force. Modi government is following the philosophy of RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) which has converted majority into a minority by imposing its will."
"The Kashmiris on both sides of LoC are divided families and Kashmiris on this side of LoC, who are backed by whole Pakistani nation, will not hesitate to render any sacrifice for their oppressed brothers and sisters. The people of Kashmir want Pakistan to move a step forward instead of traditional rhetoric of political, moral and diplomatic support," he added.
Other speakers including speakers, MNAs, MPAs, MLAs, ministers and relevant government functionaries shared views on the occasion and strongly condemned human rights violations in IOK, besides demanding right to self-determination for Kashmiris in the occupied valley.
Later, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) delegates walked out of the moot in protest of the arrest of their party stalwart Khurshid Shah who was arrested by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in a case involving assets beyond means of income.
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