Pakistan has welcomed the UN’s reiteration that its position on Indian occupied Kashmir remained unchanged and it continued to see the valley as disputed territory, according to a statement issued by the Foreign Office (FO).
The statement came days after UN Secretary General Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric clarified during a news briefing in New York that the UN’s “position on Kashmir is well established and has not changed”. The clarification followed a claim by India’s UN Ambassador T S Tirmurti that the disputed state was now an “integral” part of India.
Appreciating the UN’s stance, the FO, in a statement issued on Saturday, said: “Pakistan welcomes the reiteration of the position of UN on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute by the spokesperson of the UN secretary-general. The statement reaffirms that [the] UN position on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is well-established and has not changed.”
The FO appreciated the timing of the UN statement, which coincided with the completion of two years of “India’s illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019, in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK)”.
On August 5, 2019, India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had revoked occupied Kashmir’s special status by repealing Article 370 of the constitution. The move allowed people from the rest of India to have the right to acquire property in occupied Kashmir and settle there permanently.
The FO reiterated on Saturday that the move was in violation of the UN Charter, UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions and international laws, including the Fourth Geneva Convention.
It also rejected the “self-serving remarks” by India’s permanent representative to the UN, who claimed that “Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India.”
“India would do well to remind itself that Jammu and Kashmir remains an internationally recognised dispute and one of the longest outstanding items on the UNSC’s agenda. It never was and never will be a part of India,” the FO asserted, adding that “regurgitation of false and fabricated claims does not change the reality.”
It also pointed out in the statement that numerous UNSC resolutions had established that the final disposition of Jammu and Kashmir would be made in accordance with the wishes of the people of the valley, expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite held under UN auspices.
“Ultimately, India will have to give in to the will of the Kashmiris and the commitment of the international community as enshrined in numerous UNSC Resolutions.” the FO said.
The statement is a reiteration of Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir, which has been stated multiple times by the military and political leadership, and most recently on the occasion of Youm-i-Istehsal (the day of exploitation) on Thursday, observed to mark two years since New Delhi stripped the valley of its special autonomy.
