Senate urges implementation of UNSC resolutions on Kashmir

ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Friday adopted a unanimous resolution urging that the United Nations Security Council resolutions recognising the inalienable right of self-determination of Kashmiris should be implemented forthwith.

The House condemned India’s state terrorism on innocent people of the Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) and its bid to suppress the voice of truth coming out from the occupied valley.

The resolution, drafted by PML-Q’s Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed and Sherry Rehman of PPP in the light of speeches of senators and moved by Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq, expressed solidarity with the Kashmiri people over the recent wave of atrocities unleashed by the Indian troops in the held valley.

The House vehemently condemned the unprecedented state terrorism, brutal killings, human right violations and restrictions on freedom of expression, including mass and social restrictions in the IHK. It resolved to express solidarity with the oppressed and struggling people of the occupied Kashmir in their latest popular, spontaneous, indigenous and widespread upsurge against the illegal and unjust occupation.

The resolution said that black laws, including the Public Safety Act and other punitive measures in occupied Kashmir, should be repealed immediately, which are repugnant to human rights in the held valley.

“The House takes note that since the pivotal martyrdom of Burhan Wani, and scores of innocent civilians, the unprecedented brutality of Indian security forces in the Held Valley has resulted in an ongoing massacre, leading to over 50 fatalities, 3,500 injuries and nearly 150 persons blinded and critically maimed,” it noted.

Apart from the fifth generation of Kashmiris facing near genocidal policies of the State, with the highest soldier-civilian ratio in the world as over 700,000 troops and paramilitary remain as occupiers in a valley with a population of four million, black laws reinforce the egregious human right violations, the resolution said and noted that black laws like the Public Safety Act, the Jammu and Kashmir Armed Forces Special Powers Act and other punitive measures should be immediately repealed since they were repugnant to fundamental rights and human dignity encoded in universal laws and civilised norms.

The proliferation of mass graves and the blatant use of lethal and proscribed non-lethal weapons testify to this chilling reality.

“To cover up these crimes against humanity, the world’s ‘largest democracy’, India has resorted to the worst kind of censorship including print, electronic and social media blanket bans. This attempt to blackout the voices of truth coming out from behind this iron curtain of terror and shame has included intimidation and harassment of journalists, conscientious objections and human rights defenders,” the resolution said.

The House urges for approaching the UN, international community, inter-governmental and inter-parliamentary organisations, elected representatives and bodies, human rights bodies, civil society and the media to push for the right of self-determination of Kashmiris.

The House offered Fateha for the departed souls of senior politician Mairaj Muhammad Khan, who died on Thursday. The Chairman Senate, Mian Raza Rabbani, praised the veteran politician for his struggle for democracy in Pakistan.

The combined opposition, led by PPP senators, also staged a token walkout from the House against the alleged excesses being committed against Sindh and massive loadshedding there.