Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control and the world over have reaffirmed their strong resolve for Right to Self-Determination Day. It was on the 5th of January 1949, when the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution supporting the Kashmiris’ right to decide their future by themselves through UN-sponsored plebiscite. The day was marked by various activities including rallies, seminars and conferences across the world to remind the UN that it must implement its relevant resolutions to settle the Kashmir dispute to save the Kashmiris from the Indian brutalities.
In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmiris reaffirmed their pledge to continue their struggle for right to self-determination, come what may. They termed the implementation of the UN proposed road-map as the most feasible solution to the Kashmir dispute. For more than seven decades, India’s belligerent military occupation and its policy of deceit, deception and fraud has been major hurdles in the way of peaceful settlement to the long-drawn Kashmir conflict.
Now is the time for the UN Security Council to take effective cognizance of India’s brutal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir and its devastating impacts and play its due role in the implementation of the historic resolution, which guarantees right to self-determination to the people of Kashmir. Given the extremely volatile situation in the restive region it was imperative that the global community should exert pressure on India to resolve the dispute peacefully. They while remembering the historical importance of 5th January questioned the reliability and credibility of United Nations especially after it has failed in implementing its eighteen resolutions on Kashmir. The resolution of 5th January is testimony to the fact that Kashmir issue is unfinished agenda of 1947 partition of Subcontinent. Now is the time that UN takes serious steps for implementing its resolution and does justice with the oppressed and subjugated people of Kashmir.
Kashmiris obseerved that the unresolved Kashmir dispute was a nuclear flash point and posed constant potential threat to nuclear war between Pakistan and India which can engulf entire world at any point of time. They deplored that the UN could not implement its own resolutions on Kashmir despite passage of more than seven decades. The time is running fast and the United Nations is coming of age without implementing its own resolutions on the future of Jammu and Kashmir.
The UNCIP resolutions like UN Charter were still relevant, only lack of political will and determination among the members of the Security Council were hindrance to their implementation. He castigated India for not abiding by her promises and launching ethnic cleansing in Jammu and Kashmir. They appealed to the UN Secretary General to impress upon India to implement the UN’s 5th January 1949 resolution that pledges the right to self-determination to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. While highlighting the importance of the resolution he said that the UN through this historic resolution acknowledged Kashmiris’ legitimate rights and laid a solid basis for the peaceful resolution of the conflict. It’s high time the United Nations and P5 put pressure on India to implement the UN resolution of 5th January 1949 on Kashmir, and start the process of holding plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir. India has not only backtracked from the promises it made with the people of Kashmir but also with the international community.
