Briefing Remarks by the Ambassador at the Kashmir Solidarity Day, 05 February 2024

February 05,2024

Dear Colleagues
Ladies and Gentlemen
 
Today, we are gathered to express our unflinching support and solidarity with our Kashmiri brothers and sisters who have, for more than 7 decades, bravely faced India’s brutal oppression. The Indian Government has imposed the largest military siege seen in the world history.
 
 The reign of terror unleashed by 900,000 Indian Occupation Forces in Kashmir has continued relentlessly through curfews and communication blackouts; incarceration of Kashmiri political leaders: illegal detention of thousands of Kashmiri youth: extra judicial killings; violent suppression of peaceful Kashmiri protests, including by using pellet guns that have blinded even young children and demolition of entire neighborhoods and villages as a form of 'collective punishment’.
 
I salute the indomitable spirit of the Kashmiri people who seek their inalienable right to self-determination as enshrined in the United Nations Charter.
 
Indian continued occupation of Jammu & Kashmir along with its repression of the people poses a serious threat to the peace and stability of the region and beyond, warranting urgent attention of the international community for its early, fair and just resolution in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.
 
Indian government’s unilateral actions of 5 August 2019, changing the status of Jammu & Kashmir and recent decision of the Indian Supreme Court, endorsing  the actions of 5thAugust cannot alter the fact that Jammu & Kashmir remains an internationally recognized disputed territory whose final status would be decided only through a plebiscite, held under the auspices of the United Nations.
 
In utter mockery of the UN Security Council resolutions, India has been issuing millions of fake domiciles with the aim of eventually transforming it Muslim majority State into a Hindu majority territory. These illegal actions typify the ongoing Indian settler colonialism project unleashed in Jammu & Kashmir.
 
The international human rights and humanitarian organizations must take cognizance of Indian crimes in Kashmir, ensuring accountability of the Indian occupation forces.
With the world is undergoing monumental changes, and flames of conflict engulfing many countries and regions around us, the need for expeditiously resolving the issue of Jammu & Kashmir now is more important than it ever had been in the past. The people of Jammu and Kashmir deserve a future free from oppression, and it is our moral, diplomatic and legal responsibility to ensure that their voices are heard and their rights, as recognized by the UNSC resolutions, are protected.
 
 
Thank you.