India is mistaken if it believes it can crush the iron will of the Kashmiri people: PM Shehbaz
ISLAMABAD, Feb 04 (SABAH): Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has said that India is mistaken if it believes it can crush the iron will of the Kashmiri people. No amount of state terrorism, unleashed by Indian Occupation Forces, can break the will of the Kashmiris or undermine their legitimate struggle, he said.
This was stated by PM Shehbaz Sharif in his message on Kashmir Solidarity Day being observed today (Sunday).
PM Shehbaz Sharif said that every year, on the 5th of February, the people of Pakistan reaffirm their solidarity with their Kashmiri brothers and sisters. On this Kashmir Solidarity Day, we renew our commitment of our unflinching support to them in their just struggle for inalienable right to self-determination, he said.
He said that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is one of the oldest, unresolved items on the agenda of the United Nations. Over the last 75 years, India has continued its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir and suppressed its people. Thousands of Kashmiris have sacrificed their lives and suffered countless atrocities at the hands of the Indian Occupation Forces, he said. The already bad situation took a turn for the worst following India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019. These illegal and unilateral steps have been rejected by Pakistan and the Kashmiris, PM Shehbaz Sharif said.
PM Shehbaz Sharif said that the human rights situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) remains a source of grave concern to Pakistan and the rest of the world. He said that India has brazenly targeted Kashmiri men, women and children through curfews, blackouts, arbitrary detention, imprisonment, and denial of basic rights. He said that the popular Kashmiri political leadership has been illegally detained or deliberately victimized through fictitious cases. He said that the media has been silenced through coercion and religious scholars have been arrested. Draconian laws have been enacted that deny the fundamental freedoms of the Kashmiri people, he said.
PM Shehbaz Sharif said that India has also intensified its campaign to bring about demographic changes in IIOJK, so as to convert the Kashmiris into a minority in their own land. These actions are in violation of UNSC resolutions and international law, including the 4th Geneva Convention, he said.
PM Shehbaz Sharif said that we urge India to honour its commitments made to Pakistan, the United Nations and, above all, to the Kashmiri people.
“On behalf of the entire Pakistani nation, I want to assure our Kashmiri brothers and sisters that we stand shoulder to shoulder with them. We will continue to lend moral, diplomatic and political support to their just cause, until they attain freedom from Indian oppression. Pakistan will also continue to raise its voice at all international platforms and highlight India’s barbaric actions in IIOJK” he said.