UAE to stand with Pakistan on Kashmir issue

United Arab Emirates says it will stand with Pakistan to extend moral and diplomatic support to the oppressed Kashmiris for their right of self-determination.

Talking to Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser in Islamabad, the UAE Ambassador Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Al Zaabi said the 177-day lockdown in occupied Kashmir is complete violation of human rights and the Indian Army’s atrocities have caused serious concerns.

He said the Kashmir issue needs to be resolved in accordance with the UN resolutions and aspirations of Kashmiri people.

The Speaker National Assembly appreciated UAE’s support to Pakistan in FATF. He said Pakistan attaches great importance to its brotherly relations with the UAE, as both countries share strong religious, cultural and historical bonds.

On August 5, India unilaterally abrogated the limited autonomy of India-administered Kashmir, the key to Kashmir’s 1947 [temporary] accession treaty with India.  New Delhi divided the disputed Himalayan region into two zones — both now directly ruled by India.

That decision was accompanied by a harsh crackdown, with India sending tens of thousands of troops in addition to the 500,000 troops already present there, imposing a sweeping curfew, arresting thousands and cutting virtually all communications.

Most Kashmiris say that in doing away with Article 370, India hopes to change India-administered Kashmir’s Muslim-majority demographics by allowing in a flood of new Hindu settlers.

India’s top court said the federal government should restore normal life in Kashmir as soon as possible, as a partial shutdown of the disputed region entered its 42nd day.

Some of those curbs have been relaxed, but mobile communications in the Kashmir Valley are largely still blocked, and more than a thousand people are likely to still be arrested.

After Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s relentless global campaign against India over the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, the European Union (EU) Parliament has decided to debate and vote on a scathing resolution against the forcible annexation of occupied Kashmir in clear violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Out of 751 members of the EU Parliament, 626 have moved six resolutions on both the issues. The diplomatic offensive by the EU against India comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Brussels for the India-EU summit in March.

The resolution also condemns enforcement of new citizenship laws by New Delhi that discriminate against Muslims. The resolutions, drafted and supported by lawmakers from the Renew Group, calls on the European Union and its member states “to promote the implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir”.