|
|
|
| February 6, 2003 | Thursday | Zul Hijjah 4,1423 |
UN need be given wake-up call: PM: Kashmir convention
ISLAMABAD, Feb 5: Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali said on Wednesday it was high time the United Nations was given a wake-up call to resolve the Kashmir issue according to its resolutions.
“It is time to give a wake-up call to the UN because the entire Muslim Ummah is concerned about the Kashmir issue,” the prime minister said.
He appealed to the international community to come forward and extend support to the legitimate cause of Kashmir and help in resolving the matter in an honourable and dignified manner.
He was speaking at a Kashmir Convention organized by the ministry of Kashmir affairs, northern areas and states and frontier region. The convention was held here at the Convention Centre.
During the convention, the prime minister also awarded gold medals to Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan for his meritorious services for the Kashmir cause, Majeed Nizami for his role in highlighting the issue in the press, Prof Fateh Muhammad Malik, Javaid Ahmed, the late Saleem Naz Brailvi and Maqbool Ahmad.
Those who spoke on the occasion were President AJ&K Sardar Mohammad Anwar Khan, Prime Minister AJ&K Sardar Sikandar Hyat Khan, Leader of Opposition in AJ&K Assembly Sultan Mahmood, former AJ&K President Sardar Muhammad Abdul Qayyum Khan, General Secretary All Parties Hurriat Conference Ghulam Muhammad Safi and Secretary of Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas Muhammad Javed Ashraf Hussain.
A typical Kashmiri song was also sung by a group led by Hina Siddiqui followed by a tableau depicting Indian genocide of Kashmiri Muslims.
Mr Jamali expressed his surprise that the international community was dragging its feet and thus giving an unfair treatment to the rights of the Kashmiri people though it was the oldest issue on the UN agenda.
This was being done in utter disregard to the fact that the Indians were trampling all kind of rights of the Kashmiri people.
The prime minister also reaffirmed Pakistan’s unflinching support to the Kashmiri cause — morally, diplomatically and politically. He said: “We have supported them in the past and would continue to do so in the future as well.”
He said the Kashmiri people have to decide themselves their destiny through plebiscite in accordance with the UN resolutions.
He also highlighted the role of the media in bringing the suffering and blatant violation of human rights of the Kashmiri people at the hands of Indian occupational forces to light.
He asked the international community to pursue the policy of “live and let live”
and do for the Kashmiri people what they want to do for their nations.
“We must understand that every human is equal before God, who gives and takes back lives. It is the will of God which prevails and we should be afraid of the day when God starts taking back all the benefits which He has given to us,” Mr Jamali observed.
He said that the issue of Kashmir had become an ideology which could never be wiped out from the face of the world by any force, no matter how powerful.
“Governments cannot defeat nations and Kashmir has become a nation,” the prime minister said.
Earlier, president AJ&K said that the Kashmiris were fighting for their right to self-determination as Kashmir was not an Indian state because Indian constitution recognizes Kashmir as a separate state.
He said there was no other way but to take recourse to dialogue because both India and Pakistan were nuclear powers and disputes in nuclear regions were always solved through talks.
Sardar Sikandar Hyat Khan said that Kashmiri people were fighting Pakistan war because its security was dependent on safe and strong Kashmir.
|
|
|
|
