As Kashmiris’ mark their annual Right to Self-Determination Day, Pakistan called on the UN to live up to its promise by holding a plebiscite in the disputed valley.
The UN Security Council‘s commitment made on Jan. 5, 1949 to hold a UN-supervised plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir remains “unfulfilled,” Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Twitter.
Kashmir is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of the region is also controlled by China.
On Jan. 5, 1949, following a full-scale war between Pakistan and India 1948, the UN pledged that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute would be decided through a free and fair plebiscite, but the exercise was never carried out.
Accusing New Delhi of “brazenly” violating UNSC resolutions and international humanitarian laws, he alleged that India’s nationalist government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committing “war crimes by seeking to alter the status and demography” of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.
He said the international community, particularly the UN, must take action to end “India’s war crimes and crimes against humanity,” reiterating that “Kashmiris continue to reject and resist Indian occupation and oppression.”
“Pakistan remains steadfast in its commitment to the just Kashmiri struggle for self-determination,” Khan added.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan’s foreign minister, also urged the international community, including the UN, human rights organizations, and the global media, to take “full” cognizance of the “aggravating situation in Indian-administered Kashmir and hold India accountable for egregious human rights violations and serious crimes against humanity in the occupied territory.”
“The international community must act in support of the fundamental freedoms and basic human rights of Kashmiris,” he said, adding that New Delhi must be pushed to allow a UN fact-finding mission to “investigate the reports of grave human rights violations” in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.
“We will continue to extend all possible support to the Kashmiris till the realization of their unalienable right to self-determination in accordance with the UNSC resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people,” Qureshi maintained.
Since they were partitioned in 1947, Pakistan and India have fought three wars-in 1948, 1965 and 1971-two of them over Kashmir.
Some Kashmiri groups have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or unification with neighboring Pakistan.
According to several human rights groups, thousands of people have been killed and tortured in the conflict since 1989.
