MUZAFFARABAD
Renowned Kashmiri jurist and rights advocate Dr Syed Nazir Gilani has said that India’s unilateral revocation of occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5, 2019, was a grave violation of international law and called on Pakistan to pursue the issue on international forums.
Addressing a press conference in Muzaffarabad on Saturday, Dr Gilani, who heads the London-based Jammu and Kashmir Council for Human Rights (JKCHR), said the nature of Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to India on October 27, 1947, changed just 81 days later when India took the matter to the UNSC on January 15, 1948, and accepted a plebiscite under UN supervision.
“India had no legal or moral authority to unilaterally decide the future of the disputed territory,” he stressed.
He cited UNSC Resolution 91 of 1951, which not only reaffirmed the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir but also cautioned the government of the occupied territory against taking any steps contrary to the framework laid down by the UN Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP).
“India’s claim of constitutional finality over Jammu and Kashmir stands nullified by binding international commitments. No domestic court can override these legal instruments,” Dr Gilani added, criticising the Indian judiciary for treating Kashmir purely as an internal matter.
He revealed that JKCHR had made a formal submission on this issue to the UN secretary general, which was subsequently published as a UN General Assembly document on June 9, 2021, further strengthening the legal case against India’s actions.
Dr Gilani emphasised that Pakistan, as a principal party to the Kashmir dispute, bore an even greater responsibility to protect and safeguard the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination. He urged Islamabad to take the issue more vigorously to global forums, particularly Geneva and Washington, by introducing new faces and voices into its diplomatic efforts.
“The current geopolitical landscape and international public opinion are favourable to Pakistan. India’s atrocities in occupied Kashmir have created space for Pakistan to rally Kashmiris’ support for accession by responding to their suffering with concrete advocacy,” he noted.
Dr Gilani pointed out that until April 1959, Indian citizens required a permit to enter occupied Jammu and Kashmir, reflecting its distinct constitutional and political status. He said this status was systematically eroded by India through judicial manipulation and military aggression.
He also criticised India for breaching the original understanding on troop presence.
He said thousands of political prisoners, including Syed Shabbir Shah, Yasin Malik, Zafar Akbar Butt, Naeem Khan, Aasiya Andrabi, and dozens of other women, remained in detention — most of them shifted to prisons outside the occupied territory. “This is not just a political issue; it’s a humanitarian crisis, and it must be presented as such.”
