ISLAMABAD – At the UN Pakistan has lashed out at Indian occupation ofKahsmir.
Pakistan said the UN’s decolonization agenda would remain incompletewithout resolution of the long festering dispute of Jammu and Kashmir, saysa press release received here today from New York.
Speaking in the General Debate of the Fourth Committee of the GeneralAssembly on Decolonization Issues, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, MaleehaLodhi, said that the right of Kashmiri people to self-determination wasrecognized by several Security Council resolutions, but the UN’s inabilityto deliver on this pledge continues to represent the world body’s mostpersistent failure.
She argued that the decolonization agenda was not limited toNon-Self-Governing Territories alone but also encompassed other peoples,living under alien occupation and foreign domination.
The people of Jammu and Kashmir, she said, were still waiting for thefulfillment of the promise of holding a UN-supervised plebiscite to enablethem to determine their political destiny. To deny this right andperpetuate its unlawful occupation, India has unleashed a reign of terrorand employed the most brutal violence, Ambassador Lodhi added.
“The future of Jammu and Kashmir should and must be determined inaccordance with UN SC resolutions”, she stressed and pointed out that thiswas, “the demand of law, morality and the dictate of the fundamental rightto self-determination.” Ambassador Lodhi also referred to the recent Reportof the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that had documented in detailthe gross human rights violations committed by India to suppress thelegitimate freedom struggle of Kashmiri people.
Underlying the significance of the work of the Committee, Dr. Lodhi saidthat political and socio-economic progress of people is imperiled andretarded under foreign occupation and alien domination. “While wedeliberate”, she said, “more than one generation has not had theopportunity to experience and enjoy the freedom that we all take forgranted.”
The desperation and hopelessness of people living under alien or colonialsubjugation doesn’t just deserve our attention and empathy, it should alsobe a call for action,” she said. Ambassador Lodhi called for a concertedeffort by both the General Assembly and the Security Council for uniformand non-discriminatory implementation of resolutions and decisions ondecolonization and foreign occupation.
“Selective application”, she underscored, “only erodes the confidence ofthe international community, undermines the credibility of the UN system,and encourages a culture of impunity.” Law must prevail over arbitrarypower, and Right must prevail over Might, she added.