ISLAMABAD – Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi yesterday urged the United Nations (UN) to play a role in solving the Kashmir problem.

“Today marks the completion of 73 years since the United Nations pledged that the dispute over Jammu and Kashmir will be settled by the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite,” he said. he stated in a message.

By its resolution of January 5, 1949, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) affirmed its support for the realization of the inalienable right of the Kashmiri people to self-determination, he added. “Self-determination is one of the fundamental rights, codified in all major human rights instruments as well as in the Charter of the United Nations. The denial of this right and the subjugation of Kashmiris in Illegally Occupied Indian Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) is a denial of human dignity, ”FM said.

Sadly, he said, this right has not yet been realized for Kashmiris due to continued oppression by India in illegally occupied Indian Jammu and Kashmir.

Over the past seven decades, three generations of Kashmiris have made enormous sacrifices for their just struggle, but their human dignity is violated daily at the IIOJK, he added.

Since its illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019, India has relentlessly pursued the consolidation of its illegal military occupation, notably through the confiscation of land, the influx of non-Kashmiri and the creation of foreign colonies in the IIOJK in flagrant violation of international law, in particular of the UN. Charter, relevant UNSC resolutions and the Fourth Geneva Convention, the FM said.

The upsurge in fake encounters and so-called closure and search operations has resulted in the martyrdom of more than 500 Kashmiris since August 5, 2019.