Global Policy Forum

By Masood Haider

Stating that there can be no selectivity in applying principles of self-determination between regions, Pakistan on Friday called upon the UN Security Council "to take a more proactive role to find a just and durable solution to the Kashmir dispute."

Addressing the UN General Assembly on the agenda item ,"Right of Peoples to Self Determination," Pakistan's permanent representative to the UN, Shamshad Ahmad, said that the implementation of Security Council's relevant resolutions pledging the right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir would not only enhance the credibility of the UN but would also usher in an era of peace and prosperity in the South Asian region."

"The Kashmir issue is one of the oldest disputes on the agenda of the UN Security Council. It is imperative that, with the dawn of the new millennium, the United Nations should take a more pro- active role to find a just and durable solution of the Kashmiri issue in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people," he added

He pointed out that both India and Pakistan had given firm commitments for the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions. Regrettably, India later reneged on its obligations under the UN Charter and proceeded to illegally annex occupied Jammu and Kashmir into the Indian Union."

Ahmad told the diplomats and delegates that "Indian repression in occupied Jammu and Kashmir has crossed all bounds of civilized behaviour. Nevertheless, the people of Jammu and Kashmir remain steadfast in their resolve to achieve their inalienable right to self- determination. Pakistan will continue to extend all possible political, moral and diplomatic support to the valiant Kashmiri people."

He said "We are convinced that no amount of force or repression can extinguish people's quest for freedom. If history is any guide, ultimately it is the will of people that always prevails. The Kashmiri freedom struggle is no exception to this rule. India must realize the futility of its military campaign to snuff the Kashmiris' aspiration for freedom."

Reflecting upon the struggle of the Kashmiri people Ahmad pointed out that "Today, Kashmir is occupied by more than 700,000 Indian military and para-military troops. The occupation forces have unleashed a relentless campaign of terror and repression to strangulate the valiant Kashmiri resistance against illegal Indian occupation of the state.

Every day dozens of Kashmiri youth are killed in cold blood. There is hardly any family in occupied Kashmir which has not lost a son or brother or father at the hands of Indian security forces. There is hardly any family in Indian held Kashmir whose female members have not been dishonoured or shamed."

"All Parties Hurriyat Conference, the sole representative voice of Kashmiri people, has estimated that over the past 11 years, more than 72,000 Kashmiri youth have been killed in cold blood. Fake encounters, midnight searches, rapes, abductions, torture, custodial disappearances, summary and extra-judicial killings, humiliation and arbitrary detentions at the hands of Indian security forces have become routine occurrences in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Massacres of innocent civilians are committed through "renegade militants" only to malign the legitimate freedom struggle of the Kashmiri people. Their plight is a living example of how a state can use the instruments of power at its disposal to terrorize subjugated people. To put it bluntly, it is outright state terrorism."

He observed that "years of denial of the right of self- determination ultimately oblige peoples living under foreign and colonial occupation to undertake freedom struggles. History of the vast majority of the Member States of the United Nations is testimony to that. This is precisely what we are witnessing in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir for the past more than a decade."

Ahmad said that the right of peoples to self-determination is an inalienable right of all peoples. This right is a pre- requisite for the full enjoyment of all human rights.