MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly on Tuesday unanimously condemned and dismissed Indian Supreme Court’s judgment on held Kashmir for being in sheer violation of the UN Security Council resolutions, commitments of the previous Indian governments and sentiments of the majority population in the occupied territory.

At the outset of the proceedings, the house suspended its routine business and decided to hold a debate on the development in the wake of the Indian top court’s verdict authored at the bidding of the Narendra Modi-led fascist government of India.

Endorsement of an action taken in contravention of the UN Security Council resolutions on August 5, 2019, is a mockery of justice and once again testifies that India’s judicial system is biased and politicised to the core, was the crux of the debate on six resolutions.

The house noted that the state of Jammu and Kashmir was an internationally acknowledged disputed territory whose ultimate status had to be and would be decided by its inhabitants through a free, fair and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the UN.

AJK assembly calls India’s judicial system ‘biased’; PM Kakar to address legislature

Until that happened, no government, no assembly or no court in India as well as in Pakistan could alter the existing position of the divided state, it added.

The house also constituted a nine-member committee from both sides to formulate an action plan to highlight the Kashmir cause in the aftermath of the Indian court’s objectionable judgment.

Later, the lawmakers went to the office of the UN Military Observers’ Group for India and Pakistan, where they delivered a memorandum drafted in the light of the resolutions earlier debated in the assembly.

Meanwhile, an official spokesman said on Tuesday that caretaker PM Anwaarul Haq Kakar would address a special session of the AJK Assembly on Thursday.

Separately, the general secretariat of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) also expressed concern over the Indian SC ruling, reiterating its call to reverse all illegal and unilateral measures taken since August 5, 2019 aimed at changing the internationally-recognized disputed status of the territory.

The statement said the OIC “reaffirms its solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their quest for the right of self-determination”.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2023