By Asghar Ali Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: President Dr. Arif Alvi on Monday called upon the United Nations to take steps to implement the resolutions of UN Security Council Resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir.
In a meeting with UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Pakistan Julien Harneis here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, he said core dispute of Jammu and Kashmir was on the agenda of the UN for over seven decades.
President Alvi said Pakistan had always pursued peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues with India, including the Jammu and Kashmir issue. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to multilateralism and the principles and purpose of the UN Charter. He said Pakistan had launched several programmes to realize the Sustainable Development Goals. He also apprised Julien Harneis of the measures taken by Pakistan against the spread of COVID-19 pandemic as well as the financial support provided by the government to the deserving families under Ehsaas Programme.
The President reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to bring minorities into the mainstream and protect their rights, to which Julien Harneis lauded Pakistan for being tolerant to minorities. Dr Alvi lauded the efforts of the United Nations in supporting government in reducing hunger. He also appreciated the role of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) for extensively documenting gross Human Rights violations being committed by India in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
On Sunday, the British Member of Parliament and the shadow deputy leader in the House of Commons Afzal Khan assured that in spite of disassociation with the European Parliament, the ex-MEPs from the United Kingdom would continue to use their good offices to raise the Kashmir issue in the European Parliament through their friends MEPs. He gave this assurance during his meeting with the AJK President Sardar Masood Khan at the Kashmir House, AJK President office, told media.
The two leaders discussed in detail the matters of mutual interest including the latest situation of Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and efforts to project Kashmir issue on the international level. While expressing grave concern over the fast deteriorating situation in the occupied valley, the two leaders demanded immediate implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions in which the right of self-determination of the Kashmiri people was recognized, and a plebiscite was proposed for a final settlement of the Kashmir issue.
Talking to newsmen after the meeting, the AJK president called for an immediate cessation of the plan of demographic change by India in IIOJK.New Delhi, he said, had introduced new domicile laws, and consistently taken actions under which ground was paved for the purchase of lands of Kashmiris by non-Kashmiri Indian citizens and the acquisition of land in the disputed territory for commercial and industrial use.
The president maintained that domicile of occupied Kashmir had been granted to more or less two million non-state subjects during the last few months, and if this exercise was not stopped, the Muslims majority would turn into a minority in their own motherland in the next two to three years.
He said that the people of occupied Kashmir were undergoing the worst phase of the history; innocent people were being maimed and killed, the youth were being rendered blind and detained in prisons and detention cells, and freehand had been given to the Indian occupation, Army to commit every kind of crime under lawless black laws in occupied territory.
Saying that Kashmiris had no role in running the affairs of the state because their genuine leadership is languishing in jails, Khan regretted that a non-Kashmiri a lieutenant governor and the Chief Secretary were implementing the directives being received from Delhi.
