Qureshi asks UNSC, UNSG to take notice of Indian repression in IIOJ

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has called upon the president of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the United Nations Secretary General to take note of the repression in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), calling for an urgent action.

In a letter addressed to the top UN offices, the foreign minister expressed Pakistan’s grave concern on reports indicating that India may be contemplating the imposition of further illegal and unilateral measures in IIOJ&K, including division, bifurcation and additional demographic changes in the occupied territory.

The foreign minister’s letter was handed over to the president of the Security Council by Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York.Qureshi also urged the Security Council to call upon India to end its campaign of repression in IIOJ&K and reverse all its illegal actions, including those initiated on and after August 5, 2019, and to cease and desist from imposing any additional unilateral changes in the occupied territory.In his letter, the foreign minister drew attention to India’s continued military siege of IIOJ&K, continued for over 22 months, to suppress the Kashmiris’ legitimate demands through a massive campaign of repression, including gross and systematic violations of human rights.

The foreign minister recalled that since India’s illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019, Indian occupation forces had killed, tortured, arbitrarily arrested and detained hundreds of Kashmiris, and put almost the entire Kashmiri leadership behind bars.

Highlighting India’s design to undermine the exercise of inalienable right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people by changing the demographic structure of IIOJ&K, including issuance of fake domicile certificates, the foreign minister underscored that all the unilateral and illegal actions taken by India in IIOJ&K since 1951, including the measures initiated on and after August 5, 2019, and any additional unilateral changes that India may introduce in the future, were violations of the international laws, including the Security Council Resolutions and the 4th Geneva Convention, and ipso facto null and void.

Stressing that the people of IIOJ&K had vociferously rejected the illegal measures imposed by India, the foreign minister called upon the Security Council to fulfill its responsibility to ensure full implementation of its resolutions on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

The foreign minister’s letter also affirmed that Pakistan desires peaceful relations with all its neighbours, including India.

Noting that a just settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people is essential for durable peace and stability in South Asia, Qureshi emphasized that the onus was on India to create an enabling environment for the result-oriented engagement with Pakistan.

The foreign minister has been regularly addressing letters to the Security Council and the UN Secretary General in order to keep the UN fully informed about the grave situation in the territory occupied by India, and to remind the Security Council of its responsibility for peaceful and just settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UNSC resolutions.