At UN rights body, Pakistan says Kashmir a legal reality

Pakistan on Wednesday told the United Nations Human Rights Council that Jammu and Kashmir was an internationally recognized disputed territory, as reflected in relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, and no unilateral action could erase that. "Let me reiterate a simple and undeniable fact: Jammu and Kashmir remains an internationally recognized disputed territory, as reflected in relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions. This is not a narrative. This is a legal reality that no unilateral action can erase," Pakistan's First Secretary Adeel Mumtaz Khokhar said, exercising the right of reply at the UN Human Rights Council here. Rejecting India's false assertions, he said that Pakistan had raised a fundamental issue that under the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (VDPA), any denial of the right to self-determination constituted a violation of human rights. "India, as a member of the international community, and a State that arrogantly projects itself as a Vishwa Guru, is therefore obliged to create an enabling environment for the exercise of the right to self-determination by the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. It is thus not surprising that Pakistan's reminder of India's fundamental obligations under the UN Charter appears to have rattled this rogue State, causing it to descend into name-calling and baseless attacks against my country," Khokhar added. He said that in IIOJK, India's brutal actions had led to the systematic curtailment of fundamental freedoms as mainstream Kashmiri leaders remained detained, peaceful assembly was suppressed, and even religious freedoms were restricted, including severe restrictions on Friday prayers and Eid gatherings. "Let us be clear: a State that fears prayers, fears its people," he remarked. He told the House that the Indian government had been involved in cross-border terrorist actions that extended beyond its territory, as the capture of a serving Indian naval officer, Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was involved in perpetrating terrorist acts on Pakistani soil, was a living testament to this reality. The first secretary maintained that India's illegal campaign was not restricted to its neighbors but extended far beyond to North America and Europe. "The killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada and the ongoing trial of Mr. Nikhil Gupta in the United States, an Indian agent acting at the behest of the Indian government, point to a disturbing trend of the current Indian government employing terrorism as a tool of state policy." He said that in the last year, India unilaterally announced to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, despite the fact that the Treaty contained no provision permitting unilateral suspension.