ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif said that in the interest of durable peace in South Asia, the international community should urge India to allow the Kashmiri people to freely determine their own future as a lasting peace could not be achieved by suppressing the genuine aspirations of the local people.
The recent developments in the Middle East amply showed that the long-standing disputes should not be allowed to fester, the prime minister said in a message on Kashmir Solidarity Day being observed on February 5.
He said the Government and people of Pakistan annually observed the ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day’ to renew their steadfast support to the Kashmiri people’s just and legitimate struggle for realization of their right to self-determination.
“The right to self-determination is a fundamental principle of international law. Every year, the UN General Assembly adopts a resolution that stresses the legal right of people to decide their own destiny,” PM Office Media Wing, quoted the prime minister as saying.
Regrettably, the prime minister said, the Kashmiri people had not been able to exercise this inalienable right, notwithstanding the passage of last seventy-eight years.
He said, “Today, the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) remains one of the most-militarized zones in the world. Kashmiris are living in an environment of fear and intimidation.”
The prime minister said the political activists and human rights defenders faced prolonged detention and confiscation of properties, adding the political parties, representing the genuine aspirations of the Kashmiri people, had been banned. The intent of these oppressive measures was to crush dissent.
Acting President, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, in his message on the occasion of Kashmir Day, stated that the entire Pakistani nation, along with the Senate of Pakistan, expressed complete solidarity with the Kashmiri brothers and sisters.
“Kashmir Solidarity Day provides us with an opportunity to renew our resolve to stand by the people of the illegally occupied Kashmir in their struggle for the right to self-determination,” the Acting President in a news release said.
