ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Speaker, Asad Qaiser, has urged the international community to play its due role in holding India accountable for its continuing illegal actions and crimes against the Kashmiri people.

In his letter addressed to the speakers and presiding officers of 188 national parliaments around the world, the National Assembly speaker has once again stressed upon the need for peaceful and just resolution of the longstanding dispute between the two neighbouring countries through a free and impartial plebiscite.

He reminded the international community that August 5, 2020, would mark one year of India's illegal and unilateral actions aimed at changing the demographic structure of the IIOJK to further disempower and disenfranchise the Kashmiri people.

While the world community is pre-occupied in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, India has taken full advantage, and its forces have further intensified their inhuman crackdown with characteristic brutality and complete impunity.

In view of the worsening conditions in the IIOJK, arising from India's hegemonic designs and genocidal plans, and the consequential threat to regional and international peace and security, the international community has an in-escapable responsibility to address the situation urgently and decisively.

The speaker has called upon the international community to take urgent note of this humanitarian crisis, which poses a serious threat to the peace and security in South Asia and beyond. The international community must demand that India allow a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices as prescribed in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions to enable the people of Jammu and Kashmir to exercise their right to self-determination.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020