ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has added a feather to its cap, as 75 members of the 193-member UN General Assembly’s Third Committee have held out complete support to its resolution on right to self-determination of people facing foreign occupation. “The resolution was adopted without a vote and passed unanimously. This is a huge success for the oppressed people of the world, especially the innocent people of Indian Held Kashmir (IHK) who are striving for their right to self-governance”, Foreign Office spokesman told The News. Pakistan says the only way for India to end its international isolation on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir is to implement the UNSC resolutions which call for a free and fair election under the UN auspices to allow the people of Jammu and Kashmir to choose their destiny. The text of the resolution also declared the General Assembly’s firm opposition to acts of foreign military intervention, aggression and occupation since these have resulted in the suppression of right of people to self-determination and other human rights in certain parts of the world. The resolution called on those states to immediately cease their military intervention and occupation of foreign countries and territories, as well as all acts of repression, discrimination, exploitation and maltreatment. Earlier in a statement, the spokesman pointed out that India stood isolated on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, as it was defeated in its attempts to lobby against the resolution. “This resolution is adopted every year for the past four decades and hence signifies yet again that despite India’s abominable record of heinous human rights atrocities against the innocent people of Jammu and Kashmir and its desperate attempts to obfuscate facts by trying to pass off its own crimes against humanity as counter-terrorism efforts, India’s effort at convincing the international community of its version of events has spectacularly failed,” he pointed out. In the past few years Kashmiris have witnessed an unprecedented oppression where bodies on the streets, sometimes found on a daily basis, no longer make news. The brutality unleashed by the Indian security forces, especially the use of pellet guns, will go into the annals of history as the worst form of torture against humanity. Earlier, Pakistan’s permanent representative in the UN Dr Maleeha Lodhi said, “Exercise of this right has enabled millions across the world to emerge from the yoke of colonial and foreign occupation, and alien domination. Many of us present here today are proud inheritors of this struggle,” Lodhi said. She said the very struggle had enabled generations “to achieve a life of dignity and honour as free citizens of independent states.”
