Senators from treasury and opposition benches on Wednesday slammed the United Nations, Western imperialism and international corporate mafia led by multinational companies (MNCs) for supporting India in disregard to ongoing atrocities in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK).

Speaking on the floor of the house, former chairman Senate Raza Rabbani from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said the Western powers, the MNCs and world bodies like UN follow 'selective' human rights and their approach towards human rights in different parts of the world is discriminatory. "They are tools of global exploitation of the weak. The human rights standards of the world powers, the powerful MNCs and the UN are based on the corporate interests. The human rights standards for Kashmir, Palestine and Iran are different and that of the powerful West are very different."

Rabbani said leading global corporate entities have made huge investments in India. "That's why they are silent on worst human rights violations going on in the IoK. In this world driven by the corporate monsters, the economy has taken precedence over humanity. The humanitarian values have been left behind and the corporate barbarism has taken the centre-stage. This is the reason the organisations like the UN, the countries like the United States, and the MNCs that call the shots everywhere around the globe hardly take any measure against India and remain totally blindfolded with their corporate interests despite that innocent blood is being spilled in the streets of IoK by Indian occupation forces for over 100 days."

These double standards need to be effectively highlighted at every international forum through aggressive diplomacy, the former chairman Senate said.

He said, "The repeal of Article 370 to deprive IoK of special status and autonomy it enjoyed over the decades has ignited fire in the entire occupied valley that would engulf other parts of the India. India would not be able to get away with it."

Muttahida Qaumi Movement's (MQM's) Parliamentary Leader in Senate Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif from treasury benches said India has repealed the Article 370 claiming that it would open up new avenues of development and prosperity. "We need to counter this narrative. We have to effectively highlight at every relevant forum that Kashmir is occupied by the Indian forces. And in an occupied territory, any kind of development against the will of the people of the occupied region is tantamount to strengthening occupation, coercion and suppression. By claiming to introduce development reforms in IoK, India is actually reinforcing its suppressive designs in the occupied valley. This needs to be our counter-narrative against Indian narrative of development in IoK that is an absolute farce."

Saif said the right to self-determination is not only linked to any particular territory but it is also linked to people. "There are precedents in the international laws that the right to self-determination was granted not only to territory but also to people, including smaller groups led by individuals. The Kashmiris have every right to demand self-determination and the UN must play its role for the grant of self-determination to the Kashmiris in occupied region."

He stressed on the MNCs not to engage in business activities with India keeping in view its poorest human rights record in the IoK. The MNCs need to be sensitized that by engaging in economic relations with India, they are actually sponsoring an evil regime that is responsible for the genocide of thousands of people in the occupied valley.

Other senators including Shehzad Waseem from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Abdul Qayyum from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Emir Sirajul Haq, Sassui Palijo from PPP and Usman Kakar from Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami party (PkMAP) also condemned Indian forces' aggression in IoK.

Ties between the two South Asian neighbours, Pakistan and India, have been at the lowest ebb since August 5 this year when Indian parliament repealed the Article 370.

Since then, Pakistan has taken a number of initiatives to respond to this move including suspension of bilateral trade with India, expulsion of Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria, denial of Pakistan's airspace to Indian President Ram Nath Kovind and PM Modi, suspension of Samjhauta Express and Thar Express train services, convening a joint session of the parliament against Indian parliament's repealing of Article 370 among other measures.

Pakistan observed October 27 as Black Day to commemorate India's illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Senate would meet again today (Thursday) at 3:00pm.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019