India suppressing just struggle of Kashmiris through brutal force: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the just struggle of the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) to realize their right to self-determination was being suppressed through brutal use of force by Indian occupation forces.

In a message on the occasion of Youm-e-Istehsal being observed today, the prime minister said Jammu and Kashmir dispute has been on the United Nations agenda for over seven decades and must be addressed and resolved with a sense of urgency and responsibility.

“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,” he said.

“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,” he added.

He said it had been three years since India unleashed its illegal and unilateral actions on 5 August 2019 in the IIOJK, with continuing inhuman military siege and callous disregard for the unspeakable sufferings of the Kashmiri people.

The Indian government, under the hold of the BJP-RSS combine, was 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, he added.

The PM said, “India’s settler-colonialism mindset is driven by its quest to permanently occupy the disputed territory and to obliterate its distinct Kashmiri identity.”

He said by deploying additional troops and imposing unprecedented media restrictions, since 5 August 2019, the Indian occupation forces had turned IIOJK into the largest prison on the planet. He said the human rights situation in IIOJK had 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.”

He added that Kashmiris continue to be deprived of their fundamental rights and freedoms and have valiantly defied the Indian campaign of brutalization against them. He vowed that Pakistan has lent all possible support to the Kashmiris in pursuit of their just cause.”

Shehbaz Sharif said parliamentarians, journalists, humanitarian workers, international human rights organizations, and members of the international community had 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,” he said adding, “It is deplorable that in IIOJK, lndia continues to flagrantly violate the universal ideals of human dignity, fairness and justice with complete impunity.”

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