NEW YORK: Pakistan will stand by the Kashmiri people in their just struggle for the exercise of their United Nations-pledged right of self-determination to rid themselves of the brutal Indian occupation, Ambassador Munir Akram told a large gathering of Pakistanis and Kashmiris in which U.N. diplomats also participated. Speaking at the meeting held to commemorate the 71st anniversary of of the United Nations Security Council resolution upholding the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people through a free plebiscite, he said that the Pakistan Mission was striving hard at the U.N. to seek the implementation of the council’s resolutions on the decades-old Kashmir dispute. The event was organized by the Pakistani Mission to the UN to remind the international community of its commitment to resolve the dispute according to the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Among those who addressed the gathering were: Azerbaijani Ambassador to the UN Yashaar Aliye and OIC Ambassador Agshin Mehdiyev. In his remarks, Ambassador Akram said that for over seven decades India had violated the Security Council resolutions, denying the people of Jammu and Kashmir to exercise their right of self-determination by occupation and oppression. On August 5, India illegally annexed occupied Kashmir and placed the disputed state under a repressive lockdown, arresting thousands of Kashmiris and imposing a communications blockade. Dwelling on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s message, he said that the current situation in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir was the worst in recent history where people have been deprived of their fundamental rights, including right to life, food, health, freedom of expression and assembly, freedom of religion, as well as self-determination. He also told the audience that Indian brutalities have exacerbated the suffering of women and children there, describing this as an unacceptable situation which must be ended.–Agencies
