NEW YORK: Pakistan’s ambassador to the United National Maleeha Lodhi has said that the Pakistan Mission is working hard at the UN in seeking the implementation of its resolutions on the decades-old Kashmir dispute.
“The Kashmir issue is alive at the UN and will remain alive until it is resolved,” Lodhi said while presiding over a meeting in New York on Friday organized by the Consulate General of Pakistan to mark Kashmir Solidarity Day.
Maleeha Lodhi said that Pakistan will stand by the Kashmiri people and support their just struggle for self-determination until the achievement of their goal. However she added that the efforts of the Pakistan government and its Mission in New York must be complemented by the community members in spreading the word about the grave situation in Kashmir where Indian occupation forces are attempting to suppress their popular uprising for freedom.
The ambassador briefed the audience about the steps taken by Pakistan for the resolution of Kashmir dispute on the diplomatic front. She said that she raised the Kashmir issue in the UN Security Council on February 6, and urged the 15-member body to implement its resolutions non-selectively in order to establish its credibility.
The Pakistani envoy said in September last year, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had forcefully stated Pakistan’s position on Kashmir in the UN General Assembly and later raised the issue with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. She said that the prime minister had urged Guterres to take steps to resolve the issue as it posed a threat to regional and international peace.
In addition, she said that on her part, she had also highlighted the Kashmir issue, especially the human rights violations in the occupied valley in all the forums of the United Nations and had even spoken about to Secretary General Antonio Guterres. She said that the 193-member assembly has also adopted a Pakistan-sponsored resolution on self-determination which had 70 Co-sponsors.
Maleeha Lodhi said that the Pakistan foreign minister had also written several letters to the secretary general and the president of the UN Security Council protesting India ceasefire violations in Kashmir and the killings of innocent Kashmiris and calling for the appointment of a special envoy to facilitate a settlement of the Kashmir dispute.
“Until Kashmir is liberated from Indian occupation, our moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people will continue,” the ambassador declared.
Speakers at the event highly praised Pakistan’s commitment to the cause of Kashmir and paid tributes to Maleeha Lodhi’s efforts in pushing for a settlement of the Kashmir dispute.
