FM Qureshi asks UN to take notice of Indian provocation along LOC

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has urged the United Nations and the international community to take notice of Indian provocation along the Line of Control (LOC). Addressing an emergent virtual meeting of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, he said that India is targeting innocent people along the Line of Control. “Kashmiris’ struggle will reach the logical end. No one can divert attention from the importance of the Kashmir dispute,” he declared. “The current Indian leadership remains bent upon perpetuating India’s illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir. The ‘Hindutva’ agenda of the RSS-BJP combine is deliberately targeting defenceless Kashmiris with unspeakable violence to break their will. “Brute force is being used to crush the Kashmiris’ quest for their fundamental rights — especially the right to self-determination enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council and OIC Resolutions.” Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that for the last 10 months, the Kashmiri people have endured untold suffering from continuous lockdown, military siege, communications blockade, and unprecedented restrictions. “These measures were imposed following India’s illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019. The Indian occupation forces have since violated even basic human right of the Kashmiri people and employed every tool of oppression to further consolidate their stranglehold. To prevent the world from knowing the Kashmir reality, the occupation forces are suppressing, intimidating and incarcerating Kashmiri male and female journalists,” he maintained. He said that Pakistan has been consistently sensitizing OIC and the international community about the real Indian intention behind its actions, which is to change the demographic structure of IOJ&K and further disempower and disenfranchise the Kashmiris. The foreign minister said that it is highly reprehensible that while the world community is grappling with COVID-19 pandemic, India remains busy intensifying its brutalization of the Kashmiri people. “The inhuman restrictions imposed on them have exacerbated the coronavirus challenges, with access to medical and other supplies severely hampered. “In the last 20 days, 30 young Kashmiris have been martyred. In another inhuman practice, Indian occupation forces are refusing to return the mortal remains of martyred Kashmiris to their families for burial. At the same time, severe collective punishment in the form of torching of houses is being inflicted on entire Kashmiri communities and neighbourhoods. India’s actions represent state-terrorism at its worst,” he declared. Since January 1, 2020, India has committed 1440 ceasefire violations in breach of the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding. India has deliberately targeted innocent civilians on the Pakistani side of the LoC, killing 13, and injuring 104, including women and children. He said that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, just like Palestine, continues to be the longest standing item on the UN and OIC agenda. “The occupying powers in both Kashmir and Palestine are pursuing similar tactics to disenfranchise and dispossess these peoples. Both these situations are worsening and call for urgent attention of the international community.” Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that in view of the grave situation, it is imperative that the OIC steps up its efforts to facilitate a lasting solution to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. “The oppressed people of IOJ&K, now more than ever, count on OIC and the Muslim Ummah,” he added.