Kashmir Solidarity Day: Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif Prime Minister, Islamic Republic of Pakistan

TEXT: Every year, on the fifth of February, the people of Pakistan reaffirm their solidarity with their Kashmiri brothers and sisters. On this Kashmir Solidarity Day, we renew our commitment of our unflinching support to them in their just struggle for inalienable right to self-determination. The Jammu and Kashmir dispute is one of the oldest, unresolved items on the agenda of the United Nations. Over the last seventy-five years, India has continued its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir and suppressed its people. Thousands of Kashmiris have sacrificed their lives and suffered countless atrocities at the hands of the Indian Occupation Forces. The already bad situation took a turn for the worst following India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019. These illegal and unilateral steps have been rejected by Pakistan and the Kashmiris.

The human rights situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK) remains a source of grave concern to Pakistan and the rest of the world. India has brazenly targeted Kashmiri men, women and children through curfews, blackouts, arbitrary detention, imprisonment, and denial of basic rights. The popular Kashmiri political leadership has been illegally detained or deliberately victimized through fictitious cases. The media has been silenced through coercion and religious scholars have been arrested. Draconian laws have been enacted that deny the fundamental freedoms of the Kashmiri people.

India has also intensified its campaign to bring about demographic changes in IIOJK, so as to convert the Kashmiris into a minority in their own land. These actions are in violation of UNSC resolutions and international law, including the 4th Geneva Convention. India is mistaken if it believes it can crush the iron will of the Kashmiri people. No amount of state terrorism, unleashed by Indian Occupation Forces, can break the will of the Kashmiris or undermine their legitimate struggle.

We urge India to honour its commitments made to Pakistan, the UN and, above all, to the Kashmiri people. On behalf of the entire Pakistani nation, I want to assure our Kashmiri brothers and sisters that we stand shoulder to shoulder with them. We will continue to lend moral, diplomatic and political support to their just cause, until they attain freedom from Indian oppression. Pakistan will also continue to raise its voice at all international platforms and highlight India’s barbaric actions in IIOJK.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023