Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has written to United Nations Security Council (UNSC), urging the body to take notice of concerning reports regarding Indian Illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
In his letter addressed President UNSC and UN Secretary General, FM Shah Mahmood Qureshi accentuated Pakistan’s grave concern on reports indicating that India may be contemplating the imposition of further illegal and unilateral measures including division, bifurcation and additional demographic changes in the occupied territory. in the occupied valley.
The letter stressed upon India’s continuing military siege which has lasted for 22 months and is primarily aimed at suppressing the Kashmiris’ legitimate demands through a massive campaign of repression including gross and systematic violations of human rights.
India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019, Indian occupation forces have killed, tortured, arbitrarily arrested and detained hundreds of Kashmiris, and put almost the entire Kashmiri leadership behind bars, said the foreign minister.
According to Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), FM Qureshi also apprised the UNSC and UN Secretary General of India’s nefarious policies for undermining the exercise of the inalienable right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people by changing the demographic structure of IIOJK through the issuance of fake domicile certificates and other measures.
All the unilateral and illegal actions taken by India in IIOJK since 1951, including the measures initiated on and after 5 August 2019, and any additional unilateral changes that India may introduce in the future, are violations of international law including the Security Council Resolutions and the 4th Geneva Convention, and ipso facto null and void, remarked FM Qureshi.
The letter urges UNSC to fulfill its responsibility to ensure full implementation of its resolutions on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and call upon India to end its campaign of repression in IIOJK and reverse all its illegal actions, including those initiated on and after 5 August 2019.
Reiterating Pakistan’s unconditional support for the Kashmiris, Shah Mahmood Qureshi said 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.
Onus is on India to create an enabling environment for result-oriented engagement with Pakistan, he said.
As per the MoFA spokesperson, FM Qureshi’s letter was handed over to the President of the Security Council by Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York.
