NEW DELHI – Pakistan will stand by the Kashmiri people and support theirjust struggle for self-determination until the achievement of their goal,Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi told a large gathering of Pakistanis and Kashmirisin New York yesterday.
Presiding over a meeting organized by the Consulate General of Pakistan tomark Kashmir Solidarity Day, she said that the Pakistan Mission was workinghard at the United Nations in seeking the implementation of its resolutionson the decades-old Kashmir dispute.
“The Kashmir issue is alive at the U.N. and will remain alive until it isresolved,” Ambassador Lodhi told the cheering audience.
But, she said, the e efforts of the Pakistan government and its Missionhere must be complemented by the community members in spreading the wordabout the grave situation in Kashmir where Indian occupation forces areattempting to suppress their popular uprising for freedom.
Ambassador Lodhi briefed the audience about the steps taken by Pakistan forthe resolution of Kashmir dispute on the diplomatic front. Only a few daysback — on Feb. 6 — she said she raised the Kashmir issue in the SecurityCouncil and urged the 15-member body to implement its resolutionsnon-selectively in order to establish its credibility.
In September, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had forcefully statedPakistan’s position on Kashmir in the UN General Assembly and later raisedthe issue with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The prime ministerhad urged Guterres to take steps to resolve the issue as it posed a threatto regional and international peace.
On her part, Ambassador Lodhi said she had also highlighted the Kashmirissue, especially the human rights violations there, in all the forums ofthe United Nations and had even spoken about to Secretary-General Guterres.The 193-member Assembly has also adopted a Pakistan-sponsored resolution onself-determination which had 70 co-sponsors.
Ambassador Lodhi said the Pakistan foreign minister had also writtenletters to the secretary-general protesting Indian ceasefire violations inKashmir and the killings of innocent Kashmiris and calling for theappointment of a special envoy to facilitate a settlement of the Kashmirdispute.
“Until Kashmir is liberated from Indian occupation, our moral, politicaland diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people will continue,” theambassador declared.
Speakers at the event highly praised Pakistan’s commitment to the cause ofKashmir and paid tributes to Ambassador Lodhi’s efforts in pushing for asettlement of the Kashmir dispute,
Earlier, Consul General Raja Ali Ejaz urged the audience make contacts withAmerican politicians, lawmakers and common citizens and apprise them of thesituation in Kashmir. In this regard, he especially urged the communitymembers to involve their children who are growing up in the United States.Such an approach would build up support for the cause of Kashmir.
Messages of President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Abbasi were readout by senior consulate officials — Irfan Wahid and Hanif Channa.
A large number of speakers belonging to various political parties andorganizations addressed the gathering, vowing to do all they can to buildup support for the struggle of Kashmiri people for freedom from the Indianyoke.
They included: Sardar Sawar Khan, a former member of Azad Kashmir Council,PML-N President, USA, Rohail Dar, Shafqat Tanveer of the Pakistan People’sParty, and Kashmiri activists: Dr. Asif Rehman, Sardar Imtiaz Garalvi,Sardar Imtiaz, Taj Khan, Naeem Gilgiti, Munawwar Riaz Hussain, Ms. Seemi,Zeeshan Hamid and Khawaja Farooq.