ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi and Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said that the right to self-determination is a cardinal principle of international law but regrettably, the Kashmiri people have not been able to exercise this inalienable right.

“The UN General Assembly annually adopts a resolution expressing unequivocal support for the realization of the right to self-determination for people under foreign occupation,” the president said in a message on the occasion of Kashmir Solidarity Day being observed on February 5.

He said the people of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) had been struggling to realise their right to self-determination for the last seventy-six years.

“Today, IIOJK is one of the most militarized zones in the world. Kashmiris are living in an environment of fear and intimidation,” President Secretariat Press Wing, in a press release, quoted the president as saying.

The president reiterated that on the Kashmir Solidarity Day, the government and people of Pakistan renewed their unflinching support for their just and legitimate struggle.

On the other hand, Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has said that India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019 in IIOJK were a blatant violation of international law including the UN Charter, 4th Geneva Convention and the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

“India has since been engaged in efforts to further entrench these illegal measures through a series of steps aimed at altering the demographic structure and political landscape of IIOJK,” the prime minister said in a message on the observance of Kashmir Solidarity Day on February 5.

He said that the ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day’ was annually observed on the 5th February to express Pakistan’s unwavering support to the Kashmiri people’s just struggle for realization of their right to self-determination.

It was also an occasion to pay rich tribute to the sacrifices made by their Kashmiri brothers and sisters during the last seventy-six years, he added.

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The prime minister said that Pakistan had consistently maintained that a lasting solution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute was possible only in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions and wishes of the Kashmiri people.