KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Tuesday urged the international community, including Muslim countries, to play their role for implementation of United Nations resolutions for holding a plebiscite in the India-held Kashmir as a thinly-attended house unanimously passed a joint resolution to mark Kashmir Solidarity Day.

The resolution, jointly moved by ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-backed Sunni Ittehad Council and Jamaat-i-Islami, strongly condemned the atrocities committed by Indian forces against the unarmed Kashmiri people and expressed solidarity with the Kashmiri people.

The resolution, tabled by PPP lawmaker Heer Soho, said that India illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir for their right to self-determination, as enshrined in the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.

It said: “The House condemns the ongoing state-sponsored atrocities, illegal detentions, demographic changes, and restrictions on fundamental freedoms imposed on the innocent people of illegally Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir and recognized the immense sacrifices made by the Kashmiri people, who have endured decades of oppression, violence and human rights violations at the hands of Indian occupied forces.”

Treasury, opposition unanimously pass resolution on eve of Kashmir Day

The house paid rich tributes to the resilience and courage of the Kashmiri men, women, and children who continued their just struggle for freedom and dignity, despite facing brutal oppression and resolved to express full solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir and urged all peace-loving nations to stand by them in their rightful pursuit of freedom and justice.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle paid rich tributes to the struggle of the brave freedom-loving people of Kashmir and said that India was violating the fundamental rights of Kashmiris by occupying Kashmir.

Recalling the sub-continent’s history, Education Minister Syed Sardar Shah said that Kashmir was among the 584 princely states at the time of Partition which were given the option of becoming a part of one of the two newly created states — Pakistan or India — or remain independent, but India occupied it illegally.

He said that the history of injustice with the Kashmiris could be tracked from 1846 when Maharaja Gulab Singh sold Jammu and Kashmir to the East India Company for 75,000 Nanakshahi rupees against wishes of the local population.

Mr Shah said that Kashmir had historically been a part of Indus Valley civilisation for the past 6,000 years which stretched from Manda in Jammu to Taxilla, Harappa, Mohenjo Daro and Karachi. “Over 80 per cent of Pakistan is in the historic Indus Valley”, he said adding that India had no claim on the valley.

The education minister said that father of Raja Dahir, Chach, was also a Kashmiri. “We don’t make myopic claim on Kashmir. It legally and historically belongs to us,” he added.

The education minister read out the UN Resolution passed on Jan 5, 1949 asking India to hold plebiscite in Kashmir and said as many as 17 such resolutions had so far been passed by the UN.

He said there were 57 Muslim countries in the world with total population of over two billion. “Where are they, where is OIC [Organization of Islamic Countries],” he ironically asked.

PPP’s Heer Soho, Imdad Pitafi, Yasmeen Shah, Khairunisa Mughul, MQM-P’s Farah Sohail, PTI’s Shabbir Qureshi, Sajjad Soomro and JI’s Muhammad Farooq were among the speakers.

Later, the assembly session was prorogued.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2025