Qureshi highlights plight of Kashmiris in another letter to UNSC

Says as a result of the Indian agenda the indigenous Kashmiris are losing their political and cultural identity

ISLAMABAD:

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday addressed another letter to the President of the United Nations Security Council and the Secretary General, updating them on the grave situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

The foreign minister’s letter highlights the gross and systematic violations of human rights taking place in IIOJK along with the threat posed to peace and security by India. It focuses, in particular, on the illegal demographic changes being undertaken in the occupied territory by India, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, the UN Charter and international law including the 4th Geneva Convention.

In the letter, the minister has apprised the Security Council of India’s implementation of an elaborate strategy of military occupation, land confiscation, influx of non-Kashmiris, and creation of alien settlements in IIOJK.

“As a result of the Indian agenda to convert the Muslim majority of IIOJK into a minority, the indigenous Kashmiris are losing their political and cultural identity, their rightful demographic majority, and ownership of their properties in their own homeland,” Qureshi maintained.

The letter also underscores the indiscriminate and unprovoked ceasefire violations by India across the Line of Control and the Working Boundary, including deliberate targeting of civilian populated areas.

“The over 2,700 ceasefire violations committed by India this year have resulted in the death of 25 innocent people and serious injuries to more than 200 civilians,” it added.

The foreign minister has called on the Security Council to exercise its direct responsibility to prevent India from perpetrating its criminal colonial project to change the demographic structure of the disputed territory and to secure the implementation of its own resolutions which recognize the Kashmiris’ legitimate right to self-determination through a free and impartial plebiscite under UN auspices.

The letter is part of Pakistan’s consistent efforts to keep the UN Security Council and the Secretary General regularly informed of the serious situation in IIOJK, and to demand resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people.