ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Thursday reiterated Pakistan’s determination to play its role to support the right to self-determination of Kashmiris through a free and impartial plebiscite in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions.
In his message on the eve of Right to Self-Determination Day marked on January 5, the foreign minister said that the right to self-determination is a cardinal principle of international law that is upheld by international human rights instruments and it has been reaffirmed by UN General Assembly in its annual resolution on self-determination.
“On 5th of January every year, we renew our support for the right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said. On this day in 1949, he added that the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) unanimously adopted a resolution espousing the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people through a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations.
“This day reminds the international community, especially the United Nations, of the imperative of honouring its commitment towards the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.
The foreign minister said that the last 75 years of India’s occupation of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) are a sad story of repression of the Kashmiri people. He added that India has unleashed a reign of terror in IIOJK, and denied these oppressed people the right to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and lead a life of dignity.
Since its illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019, he added that India is engineering demographic and political changes in IIOJK to convert Kashmiris into a disempowered minority in their own land.
“It is time for the international community, especially the United Nations, to live up to their promises and take measures enabling the people of Jammu and Kashmir to exercise the right of self-determination as enshrined in UNSC resolutions. It must also call for an immediate cessation of human rights abuses and a reversal of measures by India to change the demographic structure of IIOJK,” the Foreign minister emphasized.
He said that Pakistan remains determined to play its role to support the right to self-determination of Kashmiris through a free and impartial plebiscite in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions.
“Our strong and steadfast moral, political and diplomatic support for the Kashmiri people will continue till the realization of this inalienable right,” he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023