Pakistan urges world leaders to act as India completes 10-month lockdown in IOJ&K

The world must play its role in preventing the situation from escalating further in South Asia, says FO

As the Modi government has completed 10 months of inhuman lockdown in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K), Pakistan on Friday urged the international community, including the United Nations, to take immediate cognisance of the gravity of human rights situation in the disputed region and hold New Delhi accountable for its crimes against the innocent Kashmiri people.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFa) said that the world community must also play its due role in preventing the situation from escalating further and in preserving peace and security in South Asia.



"For its part, Pakistan reaffirms full support to the Kashmiri people in their just struggle till the realisation of their right to self-determination as enshrined in the relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions," the communique read.

It added that during the past 10 months, Indian forces have violated every single right of the Kashmiris and tried every possible tool of oppression to perpetuate India’s illegal occupation of IOJ&K.

"While the international community is pre-occupied with fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, India has been busy trying to illegally change the demographic structure of the occupied territory and intensifying its brutalisation of the Kashmiri people with extra-judicial killings of Kashmiri youth in fake encounters and so-called 'anti-infiltration' operations."

The Foreign Office also said that the persecution of Kashmiri people and minorities elsewhere in India is a direct result of the BJP government’s RSS-inspired extremist Hindutva mindset, which stands exposed before the international community for its crimes against humanity.



"India must realise that its brutalisation of Kashmiris for the past seven decades has failed to subjugate them and will not succeed in future. The more India oppresses the innocent Kashmiris, the more their resolve to secure their legitimate rights will be fortified."

The day marked the completion of 10 months of continuous inhuman lockdown, military siege, communications blockade and unprecedented restrictions in IOJ&K imposed by the Indian forces, following New Delhi's illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019.