ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has noted that India is mistaken if it believes it can crush the iron will of the Kashmiri people.
In his message on Kashmir Solidarity Day, the prime minister said that no amount of state terrorism unleashed by Indian occupation forces can break the will of the Kashmiris or undermine their legitimate struggle.
“We urge India to honour its commitments made to Pakistan, the UN and, above all, to the Kashmiri people,” he said.
The prime minister said that every year, on the 5th of February, the people of Pakistan reaffirm their solidarity with their Kashmiri brothers and sisters. He said that
“On this Kashmir Solidarity Day, we renew our commitment of our unflinching support to them in their just struggle for inalienable right to self-determination,” he said.
The prime minister said that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is one of the oldest unresolved items on the agenda of the United Nations. He said that over the last 75 years, India has continued its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir and suppressed its people. He said that thousands of Kashmiris have sacrificed their lives and suffered countless atrocities at the hands of the Indian occupation forces.
Shahbaz Sharif said that the already bad situation took a turn for the worst following India’s illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019. These illegal and unilateral steps have been rejected by Pakistan and the Kashmiris.
The prime minister stated that the human rights situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK) remains a source of grave concern to Pakistan and the rest of the world.
The prime minister said that India has brazenly targeted Kashmiri men, women and children through curfews, blackouts, arbitrary detention, imprisonment, and denial of basic rights. The popular Kashmiri political leadership has been illegally detained or deliberately victimized through fictitious cases. The media has been silenced through coercion and religious scholars have been arrested.
Shahbaz Sharif said that the draconian laws have been enacted that deny the fundamental freedoms of the Kashmiri people.
In addition, he added, India has also intensified its campaign to bring about demographic changes in IIOJK, so as to convert the Kashmiris into a minority in their own land.
These actions are in violation of UN Security Council resolutions and international law including the 4th Geneva Convention, he said.
The prime minister also said that on behalf of the entire Pakistani nation, I want to assure our Kashmiri brothers and sisters that we stand shoulder to shoulder with them.
“We will continue to lend moral, diplomatic and political support to their just cause, until they attain freedom from Indian oppression,” he said.
“Pakistan will also continue to raise its voice at all international platforms and highlight India’s barbaric actions in IIOJK.”
