Jalil Abbas Jilani categorically rejects the judgment announced by Supreme Court of India on the status of IIOJK
ISLAMABAD, Dec 11 (SABAH): Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani has categorically rejected the judgment announced by the Supreme Court of India on the status of Indian Illeally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
Addressing a news conference in Islamabad on Thursday, Jalil Abbas Jilani said the judicial endorsement of India’s unilateral and illegal actions of 5 August 2019 is a travesty of justice, based on distorted historical and legal arguments.
He said India cannot abdicate its international obligations on the pretext of domestic legislations and judicial verdicts. Its plans to annex IIOJK are bound to fail.
The Foreign Minister said the Indian Supreme Court’s verdict fails to recognize the internationally-recognized disputed nature of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. It further fails to cater to the aspirations of the Kashmiri people, who have already rejected India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019. The judgment is yet another manifestation of the pliant judiciary under India’s ruling dispensation.
Jalil Abbas Jilani said the restoration of statehood, conduct of State Assembly elections or similar steps cannot serve as a substitute to the grant of the right to self-determination to the Kashmiri people.
He said the judgment cannot distract the international community’s attention from the gross and systematic human rights violations being perpetrated in IIOJK.
The Foreign Minister said India’s unilateral and illegal measures since 5 August 2019 have been aimed at changing the demographic structure and political landscape of the IIOJK, in flagrant violation of international law and the relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions, especially Resolution 122 of 1957. They remain a matter of grave concern for Pakistan as their ultimate goal is to convert the Kashmiris into a disempowered community in their own land. These measures must be rescinded to create an environment for peace and dialogue.
He said Pakistan will continue to extend its full political, diplomatic and moral support to the people of IIOJK for realization of their inalienable right to self-determination.
The Foreign Minister said Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally-recognized dispute, which remains on the agenda of the UN Security Council for over seven decades.
He said the final disposition of Jammu and Kashmir is to be made in accordance with the relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions and as per aspirations of the Kashmiri people. India has no right to make unilateral decisions on the status of this disputed territory against the will of the Kashmiri people and Pakistan.
The Minister said Pakistan does not acknowledge the supremacy of the Indian Constitution over Jammu and Kashmir. Any process, subservient to the Indian Constitution, carries no legal significance.
Maintaining that the issue of occupied Kashmir has been on the UN’s agenda for decades, he reiterated the government’s demand that all UN resolutions on the disputed region should be followed to resolve the Kashmir issue.
Elaborating further, he said Islamabad will consider all options following the Indian SC’s decision, and added that the country’s apex court had also passed a biased verdict in the Babri Masjid demolition case. “Today’s decision is also of the same nature.”
Jalil Abbas Jillani said since the abrogation of Article 370, those living in occupied Kashmir have suffered under numerous restrictions, and serious violations of human rights by New Delhi’s forces continue in IIOJK. He reminded that India had also denied permission to independent observers from the OIC to visit the disputed region.
The interim foreign minister further said that Pakistan would write to the UN secretary general, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) secretary general and the European Union parliament to “apprise them of the futility” of today’s verdict. “We will find out the illegalities and contradictions that are present in this decision,” he said.
Meanwhile in a statement issued on twitter on Monday, Jalil Abbas Jilani said that the international law doesn’t recognize India’s unilateral and illegal actions of 5 August 2019. He said that the judicial endorsement by the Indian Supreme Court has no legal value. He said that Kashmiris have an inalienable right to self determination in accordance with the relevant UN SC resolutions.