Jilani highlighted that the day of Jan 5 was annually observed as the Right to Self-Determination Day by the people of Jammu and Kashmir. On this day in 1949, the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) adopted a resolution guaranteeing a free and fair plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir, allowing the Kashmiri people to realise their right to self-determination.
The foreign minister underscored that the right to self-determination was a fundamental principle of international law. Every year, the UN General Assembly adopts a resolution reaffirming the legal right of people to decide their own destiny, expressing unequivocal support for the realisation of the right to self-determination for those under foreign occupation. Regrettably, the Kashmiri people have been unable to exercise this inalienable right.
The minister stated that India had been taking various steps to consolidate its occupation of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), an internationally-recognised disputed territory.
“Following its illegal and unilateral actions on Aug 5, 2019, India’s efforts have aimed at engineering demographic and political changes to disempower the Kashmiri community in their own land. The recent verdict by the Indian Supreme Court is another manifestation of India’s desire to undermine the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people,” he added.
India is also subjecting the Kashmiri people to systematic human rights violations, creating an environment of fear to crush dissent in IIOJK.
“For its part, Pakistan will continue to extend its unstinted moral, political, and diplomatic support to the struggle of the people of Jammu and Kashmir for the realization of their right to self-determination in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” the foreign minister concluded.
