Manend Team 
ISLAMABAD, (MANEND NEWS): Chairman Kashmir Committee Shehryar
Khan Afridi has said that the Kashmir dispute is a big question mark on
the credibility of the United Nations.
In a tweet on the occasion of Kashmir Solidarity Day on Friday,
Shehryar Khan Afridi said the world body must take steps to put
pressure on the Hindutva-inspired Indian government to stop the
genocide of Kashmiris.
He said the United Nations is responsible to give the Kashmiri people
the right to self-determination; otherwise, people will lose confidence
in this only world platform.
Meanwhile Shehryar Khan Afridi on Friday called upon the world
community, President of United States of America Joe Biden and the
United Nations Secretary General to put pressure on the Hindutva
regime of India to immediately release political prisoners detained post
abrogation of Article 370 and 35-A August 5, 2019 in violation of
international human rights laws and charters of the United Nations.
Speaking to media with regard to the Kashmir Solidarity Day before
flying for Kotli with Prime Minister Imran Khan, Shehryar Afridi said
that Syed Ali Geelani, Masarat Alam Bhat, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Syed
Shabbir Shah, Yasin Malik, Ashraf Sehrai, Asiya Andrabi, Naheeda
Nasreen, Fehmida Sofi and others, Afridi said that all the political
prisoners fighting for freedom from India must be released forthwith.
Chairman Kashmir Committee also called for immediate lifting of
internet and communications blockade enforced in South Kashmir on
the eve of Kashmir Solidarity Day. “This communication blackout by
Hindutva regime aims at withholding information and to keep the
Kashmiri people disconnected from the rest of the world. India’s
occupational regime wants to keep Kashmiris caged in world’s biggest
prison,” the minister said.
Shehryar Afridi urged the Biden administration to immediately take
cognizance of the human rights abuses and use of RDX by
occupational forces in destroying houses and properties of the
Kashmiris under the Hindutva’s plan of genocide of Kashmiri people.
He urged the US administration to ensure immediate lifting of internet
curfew and communications blackout, release of political leaders and
bringing an end to India’s illegal and unilateral actions in the IIOJK.
Urging for a more proactive Parliamentarians’ role in highlighting
Kashmir cause to make India accountable for its crimes against
humanity in IIOJK, Shehryar Afridi said the implementation of UNSC
Resolutions on Kashmir is a collective responsibility of all the Member
States of the United Nations. Chairman Parliamentary Committee on
Kashmir Shehryar Afridi said that there is a growing momentum
among international Parliamentarians worldwide to work together to
galvanize world conscience to halt India’s aggression and make it
accountable for its atrocities against Kashmiris in IIOJK.
He said that the political leaders and legislators in several countries,
including the US, Canada and Europe, including the Chairperson of the
European Parliament have also expressed their concerns on IIOJK.
“Pakistan is committed for peaceful resolution of Jammu and Kashmir
dispute under Prime Minister of Pakistan’s vision shared at the UNGA
Sessions through a full spectrum of Parliamentary and diplomatic
outreach, engagement with media, think-tanks, academia,
intelligentsia and civil society,” he said. While advocating for the right
of self-determination to People of IIOJK, Shehryar Afridi said that
Indian Occupation Forces cannot strip off the right of Kashmiri people
to determine its own destiny as enshrined in UNSC resolutions under
the auspices of UN. He said that Kashmiris’ struggle for self-
determination has gained a new impetus recently under Modi’s regime.
Shehryar Afridi said, “India has lost currency on its narrative of foreign
involvement in Kashmir. He said that BJP regime’s actions are
propelled by racist ideologies of fascist RSS.” Indian occupation forces
are martyring innocent Kashmiris in staged encounters under the garb
of so-called cordon and search operations, “India’s extra-judicial killing
of hundreds of innocent Kashmiris including women and children is in
complete violation of the fundamental precepts of international
humanitarian law,” he said. He mentioned that since August 5th, India
has been implementing a well-planned strategy of military occupation,
land confiscation, influx of non-Kashmiris and creation of alien
settlements in the disputed territory.
He said that IIOJK is in grave danger of being completely colonized by
outside settlers with the indigenous Kashmiris losing their political and
cultural identity, their rightful demographic majority and ownership of
their properties in their own homeland. “The demographic apartheid is
aimed at affecting the outcome of a plebiscite envisaged in the UN
Security Council resolutions,” said Afridi.
He said that the highly condemnable Indian action is clear violation of
the UN Security Council resolutions, bilateral agreements between
Pakistan and India and international law and in particular constitutes
violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention which states that “the
Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian
population into the territory it occupies”. He said that the
communication blockade by India is another form of collective
punishment and clear violation of article 19 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights which mandates that “everyone has the
right to freedom of opinion and expression.”
