Time for int’l community to ensure self-determination right to Kashmiris under UNSC resolutions: Bilawal Bhutto

Islamabad: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Thursday said that the international community should 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.

The foreign minister, in his message on the occasion of Right to Self-Determination Day annually observed on January 5, said the Day reminded the international community, especially the United Nations, of the imperative of honoring its commitment towards the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

“On 5th of January every year, we renew our support for the right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. On this day in 1949, 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,” the foreign minister remarked.

Foreign Minister Bilawal said the right to self-determination was a cardinal principle of international law that was upheld by international human rights instruments. It has been reaffirmed by the UN General Assembly in its annual resolution on self-determination, he added.

He said the last 75 years of India’s occupation of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) were a sad story of repression of the Kashmiri people.

He said India had 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 it’s illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019, India is engineering demographic and political changes in IIOJK to convert Kashmiris into a disempowered minority in their own land, he remarked.

The foreign minister said the international community 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 reiterated that Pakistan remained 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 resolved.