September 25, 2003	Thursday	Rajab 27, 1424

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UNITED NATIONS, Sept 24: Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri told the United Nations on Wednesday that the situation in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir called for the urgent attention of the international community.

Addressing a ministerial meeting at the Security Council, Mr Kasuri said that over the past 13 years, more than 80,000 Kashmiris had been killed and thousands wounded by the Indian troops.

“There are innumerable cases of torture, rape and extrajudicial killings,” the minister said while regretting that so far “no one has ever been prosecuted in a real manner, despite the fact that such crimes have been extensively documented by international human rights organizations.”

Justice for the people of occupied Kashmir, he said, required an end to impunity for these crimes, and their closure through the realization of their UNSC mandated right to self-determination.

“We are all familiar with the dictum: if you want peace, work for justice.” This applies, in great measure, to the situation in Kashmir and Palestine,” he added.

He Called upon the international community that it should stay engaged in resolving major disputes and in protecting people through such measures as peacekeeping, disarmament, demobilization of forces and reintegration programmes.

Speaking about the UN role in promoting justice and the rule of law, the minister said the relevance of justice and rule of law for international peace and security was self-evident. “Situations posing a threat to international peace and security must be dealt with by the United Nations, primarily the Security Council, in line with the principles enshrined in the UN Charter,” he pointed out. The use of force, he said, should be consistent with the Charter’s principles relating to collective security.

Indirectly referring to the failure of the United Nations in implementing Security Council resolutions on Kashmir, the minister said: “The resolutions and decisions of the Security Council must also be implemented uniformly and without discrimination, and also with equal force.”

Selective implementation of force, he said, created an unjust environment, deepening conflicts and compounding the suffering of the people. “It erodes confidence in the system and undermines the UN’s credibility.”

The international community, he said, must also ensure consistent application of the international human rights and humanitarian law and all the provisions of the Geneva Conventions.