ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Strongly denouncing the worst form of barbarism perpetrated by the Indian forces in Occupied Kashmir, the Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi once again stressed upon the International Community to hold India accountable and fulfill its promises of ensuring the Kashmiri people get their inalienable right to self-determination.
Qureshi was addressing a Seminar titled “Pakistan Stands with Kashmiris” organized at the President’s Secretariat in Islamabad on Thursday to mark Kashmir Solidarity Day.
The following are remarks by the Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi at the Seminar “Pakistan Stands with Kashmiris”;
“Honourable President of Pakistan,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Assalam-o-Alaikum and Good Afternoon
We have gathered here to express solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
No expression of solidarity with the Kashmiris is complete unless we:
- Ensure that their basic rights and liberties are not violated on a daily basis by the Indian Occupation Forces; and
- Deliver the promise of the international community of their inalienable right to self-determination.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
One and a half year ago, India was essentially deluded when it took illegal and unilateral actions on 5 August 2019.
Deluded that the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) will accept these actions as their fate.
Deluded that India would hoodwink the entire international community.
And deluded that it would be successful in depriving the Kashmiris of their right to self-determination – forever.
None of these has happened, or will ever happen.
India has failed and will continue to fail in its dark attempts.
Today, India stands fully exposed before the international community for usurping the fundamental freedoms of the Kashmiri people.
India’s human rights violations have removed the façade of it being a so-called ‘democracy.’
Sadly, despite the global condemnation, India has not corrected its course.
On the one hand, India is busy further perpetuating its occupation of IIOJK through illegal demographic changes; and, on the other, its political and military leaders continue to spew hate and hostility towards Pakistan.
The recent report by EU DisinfoLab about India’s global disinformation campaign against Pakistan has further validated Pakistan’s position about India’s evil designs.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
For far too long, India has oppressed the innocent people of IIOJK. Its tactics include but are not limited to:
- An inhuman military siege;
- The most unprecedented communication blockade in the modern history;
- Extra-judicial killings in fake encounters and staged ‘cordon-and-search’ operations;
- Usurping rights to freedom, life, liberty, education and every other possible human right of the Kashmiris;
- Use of pellet guns against peaceful demonstrations;
- Destruction of Kashmiri houses to inflict collective punishment on Kashmiri communities;
- Implementing an elaborate and well-planned strategy of military occupation, land confiscation, influx of non-Kashmiris and creation of alien settlements in IIOJK;
- Granting complete impunity to the Indian occupation forces through draconian laws; and
- Denying the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me emphasize, the world community cannot look away when millions of Kashmiris face the threat of extermination through genocidal acts of Indian occupation troops.
It’s not me, the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, making this assertion. Rather, independent observers like Genocide Watch have issued alerts.
Distinguished Guests,
India’s denial of the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination is an affront to the international community.
It is the will of international community that is represented through the numerous UNSC resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir dispute – it is that very will that India continues to disobey.
India’s human rights violations in IIOJK challenge the collective conscience of the mankind.
India cannot pretend that what happens in this internationally recognized disputed territory is an ‘internal matter’.
Let me acknowledge that the world community has responded to the humanitarian crisis in IIOJK.
Condemnation by multilateral and human rights organizations, international media, civil society and Parliaments around the globe is a testimony to both the currency and the urgency of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
Though significant, the response is, however, not enough – not enough because no response can be enough till India is held fully accountable for its serious crimes against the Kashmiri people and till the realization of the Kashmiris’ legitimate right to self-determination.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I, therefore, once again call upon the international community to hold India accountable and demand that India undertakes these steps:
- Immediately lift the continuing military siege and rescind illegal and inhuman actions taken in IIOJK;
- Remove restrictions on communications, movement and peaceful assembly;
- Immediately release the incarcerated Kashmiri political leaders and allow them to express the wishes of the Kashmiri people;
- Free arbitrarily and illegally detained Kashmiris;
- Reverse the new domicile rules designed to change the demographic structure of IIOJK and cancel all fake domiciles granted to non-Kashmiris;
- Remove the draconian laws granting impunity to Indian occupation forces;
- Allow access for United Nations observers, international human rights and humanitarian organizations and the international media to Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir;
- Immediately halt its ceasefire violations across the Line of Control and the Working Boundary;
- Stop sponsoring terrorism against the people of IIOJK; an
- Fulfill its obligation of holding a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations, to let the Kashmiris exercise their inalienable right to self-determination as enshrined in numerous UNSC resolutions.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would conclude my remarks with the words of the Noble Laureate Elie Wiesel.
He said and I quote:
“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
Now is the time to take sides.
On this Kashmir Solidarity Day, let us vow to help the oppressed, and not the oppressor;
Let us promise to encourage the tormented, and not the tormentor;
And, let us decide to side with the innocent people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, and not their brutal Occupier.
I thank you all.”
