ISLAMABAD – A key committee of the UN General Assembly has unanimouslypassed a Pakistan-initiated resolution reaffirming the right toself-determination for people who are subjected to colonial, foreign oralien occupation.
Co-signed by 81 countries, the resolution serves to focus the world’sattention on the struggle by people of the occupied land for theirinalienable right to self-determination, including those in Kashmir andPalestine.
Presenting the draft, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UnitedNations (UN) Munir Akram highlighted the importance of the right toself-determination which enjoys primacy in international law.
He apprised the committee with reference to India’s annexation of Jammu andKashmir on August 5 when the disputed state was placed under a repressivelockdown with internet and phone communications cut off to this day.
Munir Akram said that curfew and blackout, the lockdown of the civilianpopulation to suppress their ability to express their just demand forfreedom and self-determination was a gross violation of human rights.
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In occupied Kashmir, 108 days on, the residents of the Kashmir Valley andMuslim majority areas of Jammu and Ladakh regions continue to simmer withanger and anguish over India’s illegal move of stripping the special statusof the territory.
As part of a silent protest against this move and India’s occupation,people in the Valley have been staying away from businesses, educationalinstitutions, and offices. Public transport is also off the roads to alarge extent.
