Message of the Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Youm-e-Istehsal (5 August 2022)

It has been three years since India unleashed its illegal and unilateral actions on 5 August 2019 in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), with continuing inhuman military siege and callous disregard to the unspeakable sufferings of the Kashmiri people.

The Indian government, under the hold of the BJP-RSS combine, is unabashedly pushing its ‘Hindutva’ agenda to alter the demographic structure of IIOJK in blatant violation of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions and international law, including the 4th Geneva Convention. India’s settler-colonialism mindset is driven by its quest to permanently occupy the disputed territory and to obliterate its distinct Kashmiri identity.

By deploying additional troops and imposing unprecedented media restrictions, since 5 August 2019, the Indian occupation forces have turned IIOJK into the largest prison on the planet. The human rights situation in IIOJK has seriously deteriorated over the last three years. The Kashmiri people remain under military siege, their senior leadership remains incarcerated and their youth continue to be prime targets of Indian occupation forces’ indiscriminate extra-judicial killings through staged ‘cordon-and-search’ operations. In fact, the Kashmiris continue to be deprived of their fundamental rights and freedoms.

As expected, the Kashmiri people have valiantly defied the Indian campaign of brutalization against them. Pakistan has lent all possible support to the Kashmiris in pursuit of their just cause. Parliamentarians, journalists, humanitarian workers, international human rights organizations, and members of the international community have consistently raised their voice on the continuing grave human rights violations in IIOJK. India stands exposed before the world, yet again, as an aggressor and oppressor.

It is deplorable that in IIOJK, India continues to flagrantly violate the universal ideals of human dignity, fairness and justice with complete impunity. The just struggle of the people of IIOJK to realize their right of self-determination, guaranteed under several resolutions of the UN Security Council, is being suppressed through brutal use of force by the Indian occupation forces.

It is the indomitable will and courage of the Kashmiri people that has enabled them to withstand every Indian attempt to terrorize and subjugate them. India has failed, despite all its massive coercive methods, to extinguish their yearning for freedom and to crush their indigenous and legitimate resistance. The Jammu and Kashmir dispute has been on the United Nations agenda for over seven decades. This long-standing dispute must be addressed and resolved with a sense of urgency and responsibility.

As the siege of IIOJK enters its fourth year, the people of Kashmir look towards those who espouse the cause of fundamental rights and freedoms as well as human dignity worldwide for practical steps by them to bring an end to India’s atrocities. In fact, the world community must press India to halt its human rights abuses, reverse demographic changes and India’s illegal actions of 5 August 2019 in IIOJK, to enable the Kashmiris to exercise their right to self-determination through the immediate implementation of relevant UNSC Resolutions.

For its part, Pakistan will continue to be the voice of our Kashmiri brothers and sisters, who continue to render invaluable sacrifices, and extend all possible support for the fullest realization of their legitimate rights. We have no doubt that durable peace and stability in South Asia can be achieved only through peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, in accordance with the UNSC resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people.

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