MUZAFFARABAD: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar and Army Chief Gen Asim Munir flew into Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Monday to reassert Pakistan’s unwavering commitment to the just cause of Kashmiris, as the nation marked Kashmir Solidarity Day to send a loud and clear message across the globe that they stood by their valiant Kashmiri brothers and sisters struggling to achieve their internationally acknowledged right to self-determination in the face of worst-ever repression let loose in India-held Kashmir.

From Muzaffarabad to Gilgit and from Peshawar to Karachi, people from all age groups either poured onto the streets or held ceremonies indoors to express solidarity with the struggling Kashmiris on a day that has become a national event since 1990.

While the caretaker premier addressed a special session of the AJK Legislative Assembly, the army chief paid a visit to the heavily militarised Line of Control (LoC), before the duo laid floral wreaths at the Martyrs Monument in the AJK capital.

In his address at the assembly session, presided over by Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar, PM Kakar said he had arrived to “renew the pledge to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Kashmiris engaged in a just stru­­ggle to overthrow illegal occupation of their motherland by oppressor India”.

Nation observes Kashmir Solidarity Day to condemn Indian repression in occupied territory

“Kashmir has always been one of the top priorities of Pakistan’s foreign policy, which reflects an unwavering national consensus. We are the main party to this conflict and our commitment to the cause of Kashmiris is firm,” he said, making it clear that India could not unilaterally impose any “final solution” on the Kashmiri people against their wishes.

“We consider it our duty to engage in all kinds of political, moral and diplomatic struggle for a peaceful solution to this problem in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.”

Recounting the harrowing forms of repression unleashed by India under its “poisonous Hindutva ideology” on the Kashmiris, PM Kakar called upon the international community to hold the perpetrators of these abuses and bloodshed accountable.

Stating that after the recent tragic events in Palestine, the conscience of peace-loving people of the world had awakened. What was happening in occupied Kashmir was no less than a human tragedy, he added.

On India’s rhetoric of cross-border terrorism, Mr Kakar said: “Terrorism is a frightful issue, but it becomes more severe when perpetrated by a state. And we have been witnessing state-sponsored terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir by India.”

On the Indian leadership’s claims on AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), he said that Pakistan believed in peaceful coexistence and had been exercising maximum restraint.

“[] … in the event of any aggression, we have the power, capacity and capability to respond to it in a befitting manner. India has tested the same many times in the past and if it has any similar desire, we are ready for it,” he said.

PM Kakar said if India was a true democracy, it should implement the UN resolutions on Kashmir.

But prior to that, it should stop human rights violations, release political prisoners, repeal all black laws, withdraw heavy presence of troops, abolish demographic changes and give access to independent observers to observe the situation in occupied Kashmir, he said.

Meanwhile at the LoC, Army Chief Gen Asim Munir made it clear that any aggression or violation of territorial sovereignty of Pakistan would be replied with full national resolve and military might.

“Pakistan Army is well versed in the full threat spectrum and is perpetually ready to respond effectively,” he said, according to a statement by the ISPR.

The COAS also talked about India’s state-sponsored terrorism in Pakistan, “which now extends to heinous targeting of individual Pakistani citizens on our soil”.

“Such callous disregard for international law and norms of international system is becoming a routine occurrence and India is now being called out openly by many countries in the world, exposing her sham credentials,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Monday reiterated its call for a just and peaceful settlement of the Kashmir issue in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council.

OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha said this while addressing a photo exhibition held on the OIC premises to highlight gross human rights violations in IIOJK.

Mr Taha also reiterated that the OIC remained fully committed to working with all stakeholders to find a peaceful and just solution that respects the rights and aspirations of the oppressed people of India-occupied Kashmir.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2024