Pakistan remains determined to play its role to support the right to self-determination of Kashmiris: FM Bilawal  

ISLAMABAD, Jan 05 (SABAH): Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that Pakistan remains determined to play its role to support the right to self-determination of Kashmiris through a free and impartial plebiscite in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions. Our strong and steadfast moral, political and diplomatic support for the Kashmiri people will continue till the realization of this inalienable right, he said.

In his message on the occasion of Right to Self-Determination Day observed on Thursday, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that on 5th of January every year, we renew our support for the right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Bilawal Bhutto said that on this day in 1949, the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) unanimously adopted a resolution espousing the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people through a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations.

He said that the right to self-determination is a cardinal principle of international law that is upheld by international human rights instruments. It has been reaffirmed by United Nations General Assembly in its annual resolution on self-determination, he said.

He said that this day reminds the international community, especially the United Nations, of the imperative of honoring its commitment towards the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the last 75 years of India’s occupation of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) are a sad story of repression of the Kashmiri people. India has unleashed a reign of terror in IIOJK, and denied these oppressed people the right to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and lead a life of dignity. Since it’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019, India is engineering demographic and political changes in IIOJK to convert Kashmiris into a disempowered minority in their own land, he said.

Bilawal Bhutto said that it is time for the international community, especially the United Nations, to live up to their promises and take measures enabling the people of Jammu and Kashmir to exercise the right of self-determination as enshrined in United Nations Security Council Resolutions. It must also call for an immediate cessation of human rights abuses and a reversal of measures by India to change the demographic structure of IIOJK, he said.