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Pak PM Nawaz Sharif to urge UNGA to enforce resolutions for plebiscite in Kashmir

News Agencies | Updated on: 11 February 2017, 5:48 IST

Pakistan is all set to internationalise the issue of alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President of 'Azad Kashmir' Masood Khan have geared themselves up to raise the issue in New York for the UN General Assembly session.

While Sharif is to address the UNGA, focusing on Kashmir, Khan is to address a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) Contact Group on Kashmir being held at the UN headquarters on 19 September.

Sharif is likely to devote a large part of his address to the UN General Assembly for "exposing Indian human rights abuses in occupied Kashmir", said Dawn.

He will also urge the world body to intervene to enforce UN resolutions for a plebiscite in Kashmir.

President of 'Azad Jammu and Kashmir', Khan said he would apprise OIC Contact Group that "Indian administered Kashmir is passing through one of its worst crisis in history" - referring to the unrest in Kashmir valley that has seen 90 people killed in clashes.

Meanwhile, at the 17th Non Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit held in Margarita Island in Venezuela, Pakistan targeted India for "human rights violation" in Kashmir.

Sartaj Aziz, Adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, addressing the NAM summit said there can be no peace in South Asia unless the Kashmir issue is resolved according to the wishes of Kashmiri people. Highlighting Pakistan's campaign against terrorism and its "success" in tackling this menace, he mentioned that Pakistan is ready to share its counter terrorism experience with other NAM countries. On Sunday, a hotline was set up by Islamabad between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan, following the attack on an army base in Kashmir.

The hotline was set up on India's request on Sunday, said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), adding that the situation on the Line of Control (LoC) was discussed during the telephone conversation, Geo news reported. Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that Pakistan has nothing to do with the Uri incident, adding that Pakistan only extended moral support to Kashmiris.

Aziz, in his address here as the Pakistan delegation head, said peace in South Asia cannot be achieved without the settlement of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council. "It is tragic that 60 years after being promised, the people of Jammu and Kashmir are still waiting to exercise their inalienable right to self determination and Kashmir along with Palestine has become one of the longstanding items on the UN agenda," Aziz said.

"We should also be outraged by the horrific images of innocent Kashmiris being killed, maimed and blinded by the use of boot force in Kashmir in the last two months," he said.

Aziz also stated that Pakistan strongly endorses the agreement of heads of state and government in Venezuela to undertake measures to oppose "attempts to equate legitimate struggle for self-determination and national liberation with terrorism".

Aziz asserted that Pakistan fully endorses the NAM position on terrorism and violent extremism. "We condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. ..Pakistan has lost tens of thousands of lives in this fight yet are resolve is firm, our commitment unflinching and our actions tougher and more wide-ranging than ever," Aziz said. Pakistan has acquired valuable experience in successfully tackling the menace of terrorism in the past three years and therefore is ready to share this experience with other members of NAM, he said. "My government's focus has been on building a peaceful neighbourhood and regional connectivity and ensuring an environment that fosters cooperation and development. However, in our view peace in South Asia cannot be achieved without the settlement of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council," he said. Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif has written to the permanent members of the Security Council over the Kashmir issue saying it is a "constant source of tension and instability" posing a threat to world peace and security.

Sharif has written to the Heads of Government/State of China, France, Russia, the UK and the US regarding "grave human rights violations" in Kashmir, Foreign Office (FO) said today. "The letters emphasise the extremely negative implications of the dire situation in Kashmir, on regional, as well as international peace and security," it said in a statement.

Sharif wrote the "non-resolution of the Kashmir issue is a constant source of tension and instability in the region and a threat to international peace and security". Highlighting the 'violations' of international human rights and humanitarian laws in Kashmir, Sharif in his letters asked the permanent members of the Security Council to fulfill their responsibility with regard to the Kashmir issue, which he said is one of the oldest internationally recognised unresolved disputes on the agenda of the UNSC.

Despite the passage of more than 68 years since the adoption of multiple resolutions, the people of Jammu and Kashmir still await the implementation of these resolutions which promised them the right to self-determination to be exercised through a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices, he wrote. Sharif urged the permanent members of the Security Council to call upon the Indian government to immediately stop the bloodshed in Jammu and Kashmir and honour its human rights obligations as well as its commitments to the Kashmiri people.

--PTI

First published: 20 September 2016, 10:58 IST