Pakistan categorically rejects all unilateral measures initiated by India in IIOJK: FM

ISLAMABAD, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, on completion of two years since India’s illegal and unilateral actions in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), has sent a letter to the United Nations Secretary General (UNSC) and UN Secretary General, highlighting the continuation of draconian measures.

“In his letter, the Foreign Minister has drawn attention to the blatant measures taken by India on 5 August 2019 to consolidate its occupation of the disputed territory, followed by additional unlawful steps to strengthen its colonial hold over IIOJK,” the Foreign Office said Wednesday, on giving details of the letter.

The latest letter from FM Qureshi is in continuation of Pakistan’s regular communications since August 2019 to keep the UN fully apprised of the grave situation in IIOJK, and to remind the UNSC of its responsibility to secure a peaceful and just settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with its resolutions.

The Foreign Minister in his letter highlighted the illegal changes to the demographic structure and electoral boundaries in the occupied territory, aimed at further marginalization of Kashmiri Muslims to suppress their demand for freedom from Indian occupation and repression.

He categorically rejected all unilateral measures initiated by India in IIOJK, including the illegal measures announced by it on and after 5 August 2019, as well as any further unlawful steps that may be imposed in the future.

“The Foreign Minister has underlined that all such measures by India in IIOJK are violations of international law, including the UNSC resolutions and 4th Geneva Convention, and, are ipso facto, legally and materially, null and void,” the FO said.

The letter highlights that, in order to suppress the people in IIOJK, India has deployed 900,000 security personnel, enforced the most extended curfew and lockdowns, imprisoned the Kashmiri political leadership, illegally detained 15,000 Kashmiri youth, tortured and extra-judicially killed young boys, put down peaceful protests violently, including by the use of pellet guns and imposed collective punishments by demolishing and burning entire neighborhoods and villages.

Noting India’s active planning as well as promotion and financing of terrorist activities against Pakistan from across the borders, including the recent bombing in Lahore, the foreign minister urged the Security Council to demand that India halt its terrorist and subversive campaign against Pakistan.

He stressed that to ensure sustainable peace in South Asia, the onus remains on India to create a conducive environment for engagement and result-oriented dialogue.

“To create such an environment, India must reverse all unilateral and illegal measures imposed in IIOJK, including those initiated on and after 5 August 2019, rescind the demographic changes initiated in IIOJK and halt its oppression and human rights violations in IIOJK,” he said.

The Foreign Minister called upon the Security Council to fulfil its obligation to ensure the full implementation of its resolutions guaranteeing the exercise of Kashmiris’ right to self-determination.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday called upon India to rescind its unilateral action of August 5, 2019 on Jammu and Kashmir and end all instruments of oppressions and state-terrorism.

“India must respect the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) resolutions and let the Kashmiris exercise their right to self-determination,” the foreign minister said in his address at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute.

Qureshi said India in a state of “power drunkenness” had embarked upon a Hitlerian final solution for the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

He termed the August 5 decision on Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) a beginning of intensification of the tsunami of Indian state-terrorism.

He mentioned that the resolutions of the UNSC, at which India covets a permanent seat, were cast aside and no tool of cruelty was deemed excessive by the world’s so-called largest democracy.

The Foreign Minister said two years on, the Kashmiris continued to languish in the “largest concentration camp on the planet”.

“On top of that, they are being held incommunicado. They do not have access to regular or even emergency medical facilities – a plight not shared even by the worst criminals,” he stressed.

He said even COVID-19, which generated unprecedented empathy in the human race, had done nothing to bring even an iota of relief to the Kashmiris.

India, he said, was trying to eliminate Kashmiris altogether as the young men were disappearing without a trace.

New domicile rules and land laws had been thrust upon the Kashmiris to reengineer IIOJK’s demography, he added.

“In its delusion of grandeur, India expected the world and more pertinently Pakistan, to acquiesce,” he said.

Qureshi said Pakistan, guided by the clarity of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision, stood its ground and focused on rousing the international community.

“I am happy to note that our efforts have not been in vain. The Security Council has discussed the Jammu & Kashmir dispute thrice since August 2019,” he said.

He said the world leaders, parliamentarians, media, humanists and civil society at large had understood that “beyond the smokescreen of Indian sophistry, lies Kashmiris’ perpetual nightmare”.

Qureshi said that the government of Pakistan was absolutely clear that it would continue to lend moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiris.

He called upon the international community to exhort India to “treat Kashmiris like human beings.”

“This will pull out the dagger, which rankles in the heart of bilateral and regional peace and bodes ill for international peace and security,” he said, adding that it would also unlock the potential of South Asia.

Qureshi said Pakistan was shifting focus from geo-politics to geo-economics and wanted peace with India, but not at the expense of the Kashmiris.

“We hope Indian leadership will prefer statesmanship over populism,” he said, and added that together, it could weaken the extremist narrative through a genuine pacific settlement of a festering dispute.