The international community especially the United Nations, bears the responsibility to ensure that the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir exercise their inalienable right to self-determination.
This was stated by the Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar in his message on the occasion of Right to Self Determination Day today (Friday, December 05). He regretted that despite more than seven and a half decades, the oppressed people of IIOJK have not been able to exercise this fundamental right. He said India continues to oppress the people of Jammu and Kashmir to break their will. Since 5 August 2019, India has been engaged in a vicious exercise, aimed at altering the demographic structure and political landscape of IIOJK, to turn Kashmiris into a disempowered community in their land.
Anwaar ul Haq Kakar stated that Pakistan will continue to provide the brave Kashmiri people with full political, diplomatic, and moral support as they fight for their rights, including the inalienable right to self-determination, following the pertinent UN Security Council resolutions. He claimed that the recent ruling by the Indian Supreme Court regarding the status of IIOJK is yet another step towards the denial of the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people. He further stated that the genuine aspirations of the Kashmiris cannot be wished away through domestic legislation and engineered judicial verdicts.
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It is to be mentioned here that the Right to Self-Determination Day is being observed by the people of Kashmir on both sides of the Line of Control and the world over with the pledge to continue their struggle till the achievement of their internationally acknowledged inalienable right. The All Parties Hurriyat Conference gave the call for observance of the day. It was on 5th January 1949 when the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution supporting the Kashmiris’ right to decide their future by themselves under a UN-supervised plebiscite.
After more than 70 years, the UN has not taken any significant action to put the resolutions from August 13, 1948, and January 5, 1949, into effect. The situation in the occupied Kashmir region has gotten worse after the fascist Indian government led by Narendra Modi abolished the region’s special status on August 5, 2019. Numerous Kashmiris, such as Masarrat Aalam Butt, Chairman of the All Pakistan Kashmir Committee, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Aasiya Andrabi, and Nayeem Ahmed Khan, are incarcerated in Indian jails.
To bring attention to the suffering of the Kashmiri people in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, protests, rallies, seminars, and other events are planned in every district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Rallies have been organized by Hurriyat groups, such as Pasban-e-Hurriyat, at Shaheed Burhan Muzaffarwani Chowk in Muzaffarabad. Rallygoers will march in the direction of the UN Observer Mission Office in Muzaffarabad.
