ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, said on Sunday it was time for the international community, including the United Nations, to live up to their promises and take practical steps, enabling the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination.
In a message on Right to Self-Determination Day for the People of IIOJK observed on 5 January 2025, he said the fifth of January is annually observed as the ‘Right to Self-Determination Day’ for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan state run news agency APP reported.
UNCIP resolution
The Prime Minister said United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP), on this day in 1949, adopted the historic resolution that guarantees a free and fair plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir to enable the Kashmiri people to realize their democratic right to self-determination.
PM’s message
The premier said, “Right to self-determination is a core principle of the UN Charter, as well as of international law. Every year, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) adopts a resolution that advocates the legal right of people to decide their own destiny.”
“It expresses unequivocal support for the realization of the right to self-determination for peoples under foreign occupation. Regrettably, the Kashmiri people have not been able to exercise this inalienable right for over seven decades,” he explained.
He said the international community must also call for immediate cessation of human rights violations, release of political prisoners, and restoration of fundamental rights and freedoms of the Kashmiri people.
“Today, India continues to take multiple steps to consolidate its occupation of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), undermining the internationally recognized disputed nature of this territory.”
“Through a series of illegal and unilateral actions taken since 5 August 2019, India is trying to alter the demographic and political structure of the disputed territory, aimed at transforming the majority Kashmiri people into a disempowered minority community, in their own homeland,” Shehbaz Sharif said.
Human rights violations
“India is also subjecting the Kashmiri people to wide-ranging gross, systematic human rights violations, while crushing the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiri people for self-determination and freedom,” the prime minister added.
He further said Pakistan stands with the people of IIOK and reaffirmed its strong determination to continue extending its full moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people in their just struggle for realization of their right to self-determination, as enshrined in the Charter and relevant resolutions of the UN, as well as in international law.
Right to Self-Determination Day
According to media reports, Kashmiris on both sides of Line of Control (LoC) and the world over is being observed Right to Self-Determination Day today with the pledge to continue their struggle till achievement of their internationally-acknowledged inalienable right.
The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has made the call for observance of the day.
In Azad Jammu and Kashmir, a special session of the AJK Legislative Assembly is being held today.
The members will draw the attention of the world towards its obligations on Kashmir and gross human rights violations by Indian troops in IIOJK.
In Muzaffarabad, Pasban-e-Hurriyat and other Hurriyat organizations have arranged rallies at Shaheed Burhan Muzaffarwani Chowk to mark the day.
