ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jillani Monday said Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally-recognized dispute, which remains on the agenda of the UN Security and that India has no right to make unilateral decisions on the status of this disputed territory against the will of the Kashmiri people and Pakistan.
He was addressing the media to share Pakistan’s response to the Indian Supreme Court’s today’s verdict that validated Narendra Modi’s controversial move to abrogate Article 370 of the Indian constitution that guaranteed the semi-autonomous status of Indian Illegally-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
During the press conference, the interim foreign minister read out Islamabad’s official response to the verdict, saying Pakistan categorically rejects the judgment announced by the Supreme Court of India on the status of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
“Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally-recognized dispute, which remains on the agenda of the UN Security Council for over seven decades. The final disposition of Jammu and Kashmir is to be made in accordance with the relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions and as per aspirations of the Kashmiri people. India has no right to make unilateral decisions on the status of this disputed territory against the will of the Kashmiri people and Pakistan,” he said.
FM Jillani said Pakistan does not acknowledge the supremacy of the Indian Constitution over Jammu and Kashmir being it an international issue and added that any process, subservient to the Indian Constitution, carries no legal significance.
He further said: “India cannot abdicate its international obligations on the pretext of domestic legislations and judicial verdicts. Its plans to annex IIOJK are bound to fail”.
“The judicial endorsement of India’s unilateral and illegal actions of 5 August 2019 is a travesty of justice, based on distorted historical and legal arguments.”
“The Indian Supreme Court’s verdict fails to recognise the internationally-recognised disputed nature of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. It further fails to cater to the aspirations of the Kashmiri people, who have already rejected India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019. The judgement is yet another manifestation of the pliant judiciary under India’s ruling dispensation.”
“Restoration of statehood, conduct of State Assembly elections or similar steps cannot serve as a substitute to the grant of the right to self-determination to the Kashmiri people. The judgement cannot distract the international community’s attention from the gross and systematic human rights violations being perpetrated in IIOJK.”
“India’s unilateral and illegal measures since 5 August 2019 have been aimed at changing the demographic structure and political landscape of the IIOJK, in flagrant violation of international law and the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, especially Resolution 122 (1957). They remain a matter of grave concern for Pakistan as their ultimate goal is to convert the Kashmiris into a disempowered community in their own land. These measures must be rescinded to create an environment for peace and dialogue. Pakistan will continue to extend its full political, diplomatic and moral support to the people of IIOJK for realisation of their inalienable right to self-determination,” said the foreign minister.
