ISLAMABAD: The entire nation is observing the Kashmir Solidarity Day today with a renewed commitment to support the just struggle of Kashmiris for their inalienable right to self-determination as enshrined in the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
The people and the government of Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir mark this day every year to express solidarity with the Kashmiri people not only to renew their love and affection with the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) but also to reiterate their commitment and dedication to the liberation of the occupied valley from Indian subjugation.
People from different walks of life, including politicians, doctors, lawyers, social activists, students and others will hold rallies and demonstrations, and form human chains across the country to infuse new spirits in the Kashmiris, who have been fighting for their freedom.
All the Pakistani missions abroad would also organize seminars and photo exhibitions to draw the world’s attention towards the worst form of subjugation and human rights violations committed by India in Indian held Kashmir.
The national media both electronic and print media will air special programmes and print special supplements to highlight the significance of Kashmir Solidarity Day and the decades-long struggle of the Kashmiri people against the illegal Indian occupation.
Banners highlighting the plight of innocent Kashmiris had been put on display across the country including airports, railway stations and national highways.
Observance of this day is also aimed at highlighting the long-standing unsettled dispute of Jammu and Kashmir internationally and apprise the people of Jammu and Kashmir that they are not alone in this hour of trial and turmoil as people of Pakistan and Kashmir stand wholeheartedly with them.
The hearts of the people of Pakistan and Kashmir beat in unison.
Pakistan will continue full moral, political and diplomatic support to the people of Jammu & Kashmir in their just and principled struggle for freedom till it reaches to its logical end.
For more than seven decades, it has been a battle of hope against overwhelming odds, of courage against fear, and sacrifice against tyranny; but through all of it, the Kashmiri people have persisted and stood firm in the face of the continuing Indian campaign of brutalization which has used every inhuman tactic and draconian law to perpetuate the illegal occupation in IIOJK.
India is keeping a major part of the internationally-acknowledged disputed Himalayan Jammu Kashmir state in her illegal and forced occupation at the might of her occupational military power since October 27, 1947, against the aspirations of the people of the State.
India is using state terrorism against the Kashmiris including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, fake encounters and staged cordon-and-search operations.
Over 900,000 Indian occupation forces have turned IIOJK into an open prison but the desperation of the RSS-BJP dispensation to control the indigenous Kashmiri movement has completely run aground.
Jammu and Kashmir’s dispute is one of the oldest items on the agenda of the UN Security Council.
The dispute remains unresolved due to India’s obstinate refusal to honour its commitments and its disrespect for fundamental human rights and international law.
India’s illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019, are also in blatant violation of international law including the UN Charter, 4th Geneva Convention, and the relevant UN Security Council resolutions which stipulated that the final disposition of the state of Jammu and Kashmir would be made in accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations.
Pakistan commemorates the Day to reaffirm its unwavering support to the Kashmiris in their just struggle.
PM, President’s Messages
In his message for the Kashmir Solidarity Day, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that India is mistaken if it believes it could 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.
The prime minister urged India to honour its commitments made to Pakistan, the UN 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.”
He further reiterated that Pakistan would also continue to raise its voice at all international platforms and highlight India’s barbaric actions in Indian Illegal Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
Every year, the prime minister said, on the fifth of February, the people of Pakistan reaffirmed 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 their inalienable right to self-determination,” he added.
The prime minister said the Jammu and Kashmir dispute was one of the oldest, unresolved items on the agenda of the United Nations.
Over the last seventy-five years, India had continued its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir and suppressed its people, he said, adding thousands of Kashmiris have sacrificed their lives and suffered countless atrocities at the hands of the Indian occupation forces.
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 had been rejected by Pakistan and the Kashmiris, the prime minister maintained.
He further said the human rights situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK) remained a source of grave concern to Pakistan and the rest of the world.
“India has brazenly targeted Kashmiri men, women and children through curfews, blackouts, arbitrary detention, imprisonment, and denial of basic rights,” he said, adding the popular Kashmiri political leadership had been illegally detained or deliberately victimized through fictitious cases.
The prime minister said the media had been silenced through coercion and religious scholars have been arrested.
Draconian laws had been enacted that denied the fundamental freedoms of the Kashmiri people.
He said India had 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 added.
In his message for the day, President Dr Arif Alvi has said that Pakistan consistently maintained that a lasting solution to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute was possible only in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions and wishes of the Kashmiri people.
“Pakistan also urges the international community and organizations to take practical steps to hold India accountable for its gross and widespread human rights violations in IIOJK,” the president said in a message on the occasion of Kashmir Solidarity Day being observed on February 5.
“We observe this day to draw the attention of the international community towards the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions which provide that the final disposition of the Jammu and Kashmir Dispute would be made in accordance with the will of the people, expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations,” he stressed.
Today, the president said Pakistan called upon India to allow unfettered access to the UN and OIC observers, international media and human rights organizations to Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) to obtain first-hand information about the situation there, and investigate and report the human rights violations.
The president reiterated that Pakistan would continue to extend its unstinted moral, diplomatic and political support for this just cause.
“Today, we observe Kashmir Solidarity Day to express Pakistan’s unflinching support for the legitimate and just struggle of the Kashmiri people for the realization of their inalienable right to self-determination,” President Secretariat Press Wing in a press release quoted the president as saying.
On this occasion, the president said that they paid rich tribute to the selfless sacrifices made by their Kashmiri brothers and sisters during their decades-old resistance to the Indian occupation.
Over the last 75 years, the Indian occupation forces had unleashed a reign of terror and carried out a relentless campaign to intimidate and suppress the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), he said, adding the presence of more than 900,000 Indian armed personnel had turned the region into an open prison.
The president said India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019 in IIOJK were a blatant violation of international law, including the UN Charter, the 4th Geneva Convention, and the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
India had been consistently engaged in efforts to further entrench these illegal measures through artificial demographic changes, political engineering, economic marginalization of the local people and an assault on Kashmiri identity and culture, he added.
“It is alarming that India is undertaking demographic changes in IIOJK by bringing non-Kashmiris to settle in the valley.
India’s heavy-handed approach frequently manifests itself in extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, custodial torture, enforced disappearances and the use of pellet guns in IIOJK,” he added.
The president said India had muzzled the media and incarcerated the Kashmiri leadership and defenders of the human rights, adding these excesses and brutalities had been well-documented by several human rights organizations and international media outlets.
