ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has urged India to allow the United Nations to investigate the grave human rights violations in its Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
In his message on Kashmiris’ Right to Self-determination Day, he said the international community must continue its support for the fundamental freedoms and basic human rights of Kashmiris.
He said that Kashmiris around the world are observing the 72nd anniversary of the UN’s commitment that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute would be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices.
Through this resolution, the UN affirmed its support for the realization of their inalienable right to self-determination of Kashmiris. He regretted that this right of Kashmiris is being brazenly denied by India in the occupied Kashmir for more than the past seven decades.
READ MORE: PM reminds UN for granting Kashmiris right to self-determination
He said the UN bears the responsibility to ensure fulfillment of the promise for granting the right to self-determination to the Kashmiris. “India is the sole cause of non-fulfillment of this promise,” he said, adding that India’s unabated oppression since August 5, 2019 has reached unprecedented levels with the inhuman military siege now in place for over 500 days.
He said India has deprived Kashmiris of their basic rights to life, health, and food in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the fresh spate of India’s illegal and unilateral actions, aimed at altering the disputed status of Kashmir has been widely rejected by the international community.
Qureshi said India must allow UNMOGIP unhindered access to carry out its duties in occupied Kashmir. “If India has nothing to hide, why does it not allow international media and civil society to visit and report on the human rights situation in IIOJK?” he asked.
He reaffirmed Pakistan’s strong and steadfast support to the valiant Kashmiri people in their just struggle for human dignity and their inalienable right to self-determination.
