ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that Pakistan stands ready to play its role in ensuring a free and impartial plebiscite in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.

In a message on the Right to Self-determination of Kashmiri Day which was observed on Sunday, the prime minister said that recent wave of unprecedented Indian state-sponsored terrorism in held Kashmir and discriminatory steps against minorities, especially Muslims, were a clear manifestation of the Hindutva ideology espoused by the RSS-inspired Indian government.

“The world must ensure that human rights abuses do not go unpunished and that perpetrators of these heinous crimes against humanity are held accountable,” the prime minister said.

He said that every year, the 5th of January reinforced commitments to uphold the fundamental human rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir as on this day, in 1949, the UN made a commitment to the realisation of the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people through a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the UN.

“This day reminds the international community, especially the United Nations, of the imperative of honouring its commitment towards the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

Residents of valley have been deprived of their right to life, food, health, freedom of expression and assembly over last 150 days

The prime minister said the importance of the inalienable right to self-determination had been acknowledged in all important human rights covenants and decisions of the UN General Assembly and the Security Council. Due to Indian intransigence, the Security Council had failed to fulfil its pledge to the Kashmiri people, he added.

“Over 72 years of illegal occupation of occupied Jammu and Kashmir are a saga of brutalisation of the Kashmiri people. Around 900,000 occupation forces have converted the region into the largest prison in the world,” the prime minister said, adding that since Aug 5, 2019, India had unleashed a new reign of terror in held Kashmir, locking the region and abusing human rights of the innocent people, especially of women, children and the elderly, with impunity.

Kashmiri people, he said, had been deprived of their rights to life, food, health, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion and, above all, the right to self-determination for over 150 days.

“Being a party to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, Pakistan stands ready to play its role to ensure a free and impartial plebiscite in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions. Our strong and steadfast moral, political and diplomatic support for the Kashmiri people will continue till the realisation of their inalienable right to self-determination,” he said.

Meanwhile, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said on Sunday that oppressed people of Kashmir had been facing lockdown for the last 154 days and they were still looking towards the UN to ensure early implementation of its resolutions regarding their right to self-determination.

She said the Pakistani nation stood united with the Kashmiri people in their freedom struggle.

Ms Awan said that India had crushed human rights of the Kashmiri people. “The oppressed people of Kashmir are not alone in this very hard time as 220 million people of Pakistan were with them,” she claimed.

Dr Awan said that Pakistan would take the Kashmir issue to all international courts, besides highlighting the issue effectively at all international forums.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2020