ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi called on the United Nations Security Council on Friday to push for the implementation of the UN resolutions on Kashmir.

He made this call in fresh letters written to UN Secretary General António Guterres and Security Council president Barbara Woodward.

The letters, the Foreign Office said, were written to update the secretary general and the Security Council about India’s continuing gross and systematic violations of human rights in occupied Jammu and Kashmir; India’s unlawful campaign to colonise the occupied territory; and India’s belligerent actions against Pakistan, including persistent ceasefire violations, which pose a threat to peace and security.

Mr Qureshi emphasised that Indian actions in held Kashmir, such as attempts to alter demographic composition, usurpation of land, and farcical elections, were “null and void” for being in violation of international law, including resolutions of the UN Security Council and the 4th Geneva Convention.

He, therefore, urged the UNSC “to exercise its legal and moral authority to secure the implementation of its resolutions on Jammu & Kashmir which guarantee the Kashmiris’ inalienable right to self-determination”.

Qureshi writes letters to Guterres, Woodward

The Kashmir dispute is the oldest unresolved international conflict that remains on the agenda of the Security Council. The resolutions were passed by the UNSC in 1948 and 1949. These call for the holding of a free and impartial plebiscite for the determination of the future of the state by the people of Jammu and Kashmir. However, these resolutions have so far not been implemented.

The foreign minister also asked the UNSC to press India to immediately lift the continuing military siege and rescind the illegal and unilateral actions in IIOJK; remove restrictions on communications, movement and peaceful assembly; immediately release incarcerated Kashmiri political leaders and allow them to express the wishes of the Kashmiri people; and free all arbitrarily and illegally detained Kashmiris.

The council was further asked to demand India freeze and reverse the new domicile rules and property laws designed to change the demographic structure of IIOJK; remove the draconian laws enabling Indian occupation forces to continue human rights violations with impunity, including extrajudicial killings in fake encounters; and allow access to the occupied territory to the UN observers, international human rights and humanitarian organisations, observers and the international media.

Mr Qureshi drew the UNSC’s attention to India’s support for terrorism and subversion against Pakistan, and reminded it of the detailed dossier submitted on this issue. He said the dossier contained “irrefutable evidence of India’s active planning, promoting, aiding, abetting, financing and execution of terrorist activities against Pakistan.”

He told the secretary general and the council that EU DisinfoLab had exposed India’s smear campaign against Pakistan internationally. He further said that the recent leak of transcripts in the Indian media proved Delhi’s orchestration of “false flag” operations and belligerent actions for domestic political and electoral gains.

The foreign minister mentioned the December 2020 incident of Indian firing on a vehicle of the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan. He said the Indian action threatened the safety and security of UN peacekeepers and impeded the fulfillment of their mandate.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2021