ISLAMABAD: Kashmiris across Pakistan and around the world are observing Right to Self-Determination Day today (Jan 5).
The aim is to highlight their long-standing demand for the implementation of United Nations resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir and to protest against alleged Indian human rights violations in the occupied territory.
The day is marked to remind the international community that the Kashmiri people have yet to be granted their right to decide their future through a free and impartial plebiscite, as promised under UN Security Council resolutions.
Rallies, seminars, protest demonstrations, and solidarity events are being held in various cities in Pakistan as well as in several countries abroad.
In Azad Jammu and Kashmir, a torch-bearing rally was taken out late at night at Azadi Chowk in Muzaffarabad. Participants strongly condemned alleged Indian atrocities in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and expressed solidarity with the Kashmiri people, while also denouncing ongoing human rights abuses.
The significance of January 5 dates back to 1949, when the United Nations Security Council adopted a historic resolution granting the people of Kashmir the right to determine their future. The annual observance aims to reaffirm that the international community cannot ignore its responsibilities toward resolving the Kashmir dispute.
Messages
President Asif Ali Zardari, in his message on the occasion, said that the Kashmiri people’s struggle for the right to self-determination continues even after seven decades, and that UN resolutions on Kashmir remain valid and implementable.
He termed India’s denial of the right to vote to Kashmiris a clear violation of international law.
The president highlighted restrictions on political freedoms, enforced laws, prolonged detentions, and serious human rights violations in occupied Kashmir, stating that these actions have intensified fear and insecurity among civilians.
He also warned that the use of water as a weapon and unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty pose serious threats to regional peace.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in his message, recalled that on January 5, 1949, the UN Commission for India and Pakistan adopted a resolution recognizing the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination through a free and impartial plebiscite.
He said that due to India’s illegal occupation, this commitment has yet to be fulfilled, resulting in continued suffering of the Kashmiri people under Indian forces.
Despite repression and violence, the prime minister added, the resolve of Kashmiris remains unshaken.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged the international community to take effective and practical steps to end India’s oppressive measures and to ensure a just resolution of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN resolutions.
