ISLAMABAD, Jan 5 (APP):Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control and across the world every year mark January 5 as Right to Self Determination Day renewing their resolve to continue their struggle for freedom until its realization through a UN mandated plebiscite.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the day commemorates the historic resolution adopted by the United Nations Security Council on January 5, 1949, which recognized the inalienable right of the Kashmiri people to decide their political future through a free, fair and impartial plebiscite under UN supervision.
In connection with the day, rallies, seminars, conferences and awareness programmes are being held in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan and different parts of the world to remind the international community, especially the United Nations of its long-standing moral and legal responsibility to implement its resolutions on the Kashmir dispute.
The All Parties Hurriyat Conference, in a statement issued in Srinagar, said that more than seven decades have elapsed since the adoption of the UN Security Council resolution, yet Kashmiris are still being denied their fundamental right to self-determination due to India’s continued intransigence.
The APHC said New Delhi’s refusal to honour its UN commitments exposes the hollowness of its claims of being the world’s largest democracy.
The APHC added that the situation in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir has sharply deteriorated since August 5, 2019, when the BJP-led Indian government revoked the region’s special status and intensified what it termed state repression. It said arbitrary arrests, prolonged detentions, economic restrictions, seizure of properties, curbs on the media and denial of basic civil liberties have plunged the territory into deep distress.
Meanwhile, APHC leaders Fayyaz Hussain Jafri and Syed Sibt Shabbir Qomi, in a joint statement, said the Kashmiri people are making unprecedented sacrifices for liberation from what they described as illegal Indian occupation and for their UN-recognized right to self-determination.
They said that instead of granting this right, India continues to silence Kashmiri voices through force, draconian laws and collective punishment.
The leaders further said that the Hindu nationalist BJP government led by Narendra Modi is not only committing serious rights violations against Kashmiris but is also pursuing a policy aimed at altering the demographic composition of occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Despite these measures, they said, Kashmiris remain resolute and unwilling to compromise on their legitimate demand for self-determination.
They reiterated that Pakistan is a principal party to the Kashmir dispute and a strong supporter of the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination, consistently raising the issue at international forums.
They expressed gratitude to the government and people of Pakistan for their continued political, diplomatic and moral support.
Elsewhere, speakers and statements marking the day said that India’s continued denial of the right to self-determination amounts to a violation of the UN Charter and international law.
They maintained that repression and militarization cannot suppress the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.The observance of January 5, they said, serves as a reminder that the Kashmir dispute remains unresolved and that the United Nations must move beyond rhetoric and take concrete steps to implement its resolutions, reaffirming that Kashmiris seek only their internationally recognized right to decide their future freely and peacefully.
