ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday said that India’s illegal and unilateral actions on August 5, 2019 were in blatant violation of UN Security Council resolutions, international laws and the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Addressing the participants of a walk held in connection with Yaum-e-Istehsal-e-Kashmir, on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35 A by India in 2019 to revoke the special status of the disputed territory of Kashmir, the Deputy Prime Minister said that the Indian the tactic of usurping the rights of the Kashmiri people through such constitutional amendments was an act of folly.
He said the people of Pakistan and Kashmir had a centuries-old relationship and were bound by unbreakable bonds of history, geography and religion and shared their joys and sorrows. The people of Pakistan have not been able to accept or distance themselves from the situation in India’s illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
The Deputy Prime Minister said that India, which claims to be a champion of human rights and democracy, should allow access to human rights bodies to witness the ongoing human rights violations in the territory.
He told the gathering of federal ministers, politicians, government officials and men, women and children from various walks of life that Pakistan had strongly raised the Kashmir issue at all international forums, be it United Nations, Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), D-8 or the Gaza Conference held in Astana. Similarly, Pakistan has also raised its voice for the suffering people of Gaza, where approximately 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli occupation forces.
Besides, he said it was the first time that an OIC Special Envoy on Islamophobia was appointed following Pakistan’s efforts on the matter.
The Deputy Prime Minister reiterated Pakistan’s continued political, moral and diplomatic support to Kashmir and called on India to hold a plebiscite in the occupied territory to compel the Kashmiri people to exercise their right to self-determination.
He said that Indian tactics like revoking the special status of Kashmir cannot suppress the determination and passion of the Kashmiri people for freedom. Such measures were only meant to change the demographics and settle Hindus and other non-Muslim communities there to turn the Muslim majority into a minority.
He prayed to Allah Almighty that Kashmiris get their right to freedom to practice their religion and exercise their right to self-determination and ended his speech by raising slogans of “Kashmir banay ga Pakistan” (Kashmir will become Pakistan).
Earlier, the walk which started from the Ministry of External Affairs and culminated at D Chowk was led by Foreign Minister Muhammad Syrus Qazi and was attended by officers and staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and people from various walks of life.
Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and other federal ministers also joined the walk and raised slogans to reiterate Pakistan’s support to the Kashmiri people and condemn India’s unrelenting brutalities in IIOJK. The participants carried flags of Pakistan and Kashmir as well as placards reading “Abolition of Articles 370 and 35A, continuity of 77 years of occupation” and “Five years of Indian brutalities in IIOJK”.
