Foreign Desk Report
NEW YORK: The Kashmiri people’s struggle for self-determination is “more alive and resilient” now than ever before, and their desire for freedom cannot be extinguished by India’s continued repression, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram has said.
“History attests that legitimate struggles for self-determination are always successful,” the ambassador said in a message issued on the occasion of the 89th anniversary of Kashmir Martyrs’ Day on Monday. The Day marks the killing of 22 Kashmiris outside the Srinagar Central Jail by the troops of Dogra Maharaja on July 13, 1931, during a revolt. In his message, Ambassador Akram recalled the past and ongoing Indian atrocities in Kashmir, and said, “The night of tyranny and despair, however long and intense it may be, is always followed by the exhilarating dawn of freedom.
“The changing global and regional strategic scenario is accelerating the arrival of this long-awaited dawn for the Kashmiris. “The day is not far when the heroic Kashmiri people, with the support of Pakistan, other important countries, including China, and the world community, will ultimately triumph against Indian oppression and win their Azadi.”
The Pakistani envoy said India’s “gross and consistent” human rights violations and atrocities were well documented in the two reports of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and denounced by the UN Secretary-General, Special Rapporteurs of the Human Rights Council, international human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, other NGOs, parliamentary bodies and the international media, as they call for New Delhi to “unlock” freedoms in Kashmir and end the reign of terror.
