UNGA adopts Pakistan-sponsored resolution

Pakistan's resolution on right to self-determination was co-sponsored by 72 countries from all regions

ISLAMABAD:

The Foreign Office on Friday said that the adoption of Pakistan-sponsored resolution by United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) with consensus would provide people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) “a hope in their just struggle for self-determination and freedom from Indian oppression and occupation”.

The Pakistan-sponsored resolution titled, "Universal Realisation of the Right of the Peoples to Self-Determination" was adopted by consensus by the UNGA in New York. It was co-sponsored by 72 countries from all regions.

“The resolution unequivocally supports the right of self-determination for all peoples under subjugation, alien domination and foreign occupation. This includes the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.

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The FO said due to the universal character of the right to self-determination and its continued applicability in situations of foreign occupation and intervention, the resolution secured the support of all UN member states.

“This annual affirmation by the General Assembly serves to preserve the legitimacy of the freedom struggle of peoples under colonial and foreign occupation,” it said.

The FO said that the adoption of resolution offered hope that destinies would be decided in accordance with the principles of justice enshrined in the UN Charter, UN resolutions and international law.

Earlier this month, the Foreign Office, while strongly condemning the continued military crackdowns and human rights violations in IIOJK, urged the international community, including the United Nations to take immediate cognisance of the grave situation in the occupied valley.

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“The plight of the Kashmiris in IIOJK is also evident before the international community,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said while addressing a weekly press briefing.

“We strongly condemn the continuing military crackdowns, arbitrary detentions, coercion, use of force, and extra-judicial killings in fake encounters and staged operations by the Indian occupation forces in IIOJK, where at least 21 Kashmiris have been martyred in the last one month,” he maintained.

The spokesperson said that persisting with their callous behaviour, the Indian occupation forces even deprived the bereaved families from carrying out the last rites of their loved ones.

He said that it is in that context that Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had addressed another letter to the President of the UN Security Council and the Secretary-General to apprise the world body entrusted with the maintenance of international peace and security and responsibility for peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with its own resolutions.

“In upholding universal respect for human rights, these occasions are also reminders to the international community to call for immediate cessation of widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law especially in situations of foreign occupation such as IIOJK”, he added.

(With additional input from APP)