Caretaker Prime Minister Anawar-ul-Kakar has called on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to secure the implementation of its resolutions on Kashmir, which was the key to peace between India and Pakistan, the nuclear-armed neighbours whose military mostly remain eyeball to eyeball throughout the year. PM told the world leaders that Inda has invaded the implementation of the UNSC’s resolutions which call for the final disposition of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute to be decided by it’s people through a UN-supervised plebiscite.
During his maiden address to the 193-member General Assembly’s high-level session, PM Kakar put a special focus on the Kashmir dispute because Jammu and Kashmir is the oldest unresolved dispute on the agenda of the United Nations and its executive arm the UN Secuirty Council (UNSC) who’s multiple resolutions had been dubbed with dust and corrosion in a wait to implementation over the past seven and a half decades.
As a matter of fact, the Jammu and Kashmir is a major territorial dispute, an ever elevated nuclear flashpoint and a long-held humanitarian issue, that sets in a thickly populated region in South Asia. This all-time simmering conflict between two nuclear-armed neighbours is not only a grave risk to global peace but poses a serious risk of a nuclear conflict which could perish millions of lives within no time.
Over the decades, the people of Jammu and Kashmir did not lose their confidence in the United Nations, which not only acknowledged Kashmiris’ right to self-determination but also asked contesting nations to hold a plebiscite under UN supervision to get people’s verdict about the future of the state. Unfortunately, UN Security Council resolutions were not time-bound, which was used by the occupier to its advantage for consolidating its grip over the valley instead of abiding by its obligations under UN resolutions.
Prime Minister Kakar rightly sensitized the world about grave human rights situations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), which has been shaped into an open prison in the world. India has deployed over 900,000 troops in the occupied Kashmir, imposed extended lockdowns and curfews, and incarcerated all the genuine Kashmir leaders, extra-judicial killings of innocent Kashmiris in fake encounters become a norm and collective punishment through so-called cordon and search operations are an everyday practice in the highly militarized zone in the world.
Meanwhile, New Delhi blatantly denied requests by the UN High Commission for Human Rights and over a dozen Special Rapporteurs, which is indicative of the worst human rights and deteriorating security situation in the valley that merits particular attention from the UN Secuirty Council which almost forgot it’s resolution on Kashmir dispute.
Meanwhile, PM Kakar categorically opposed an addition of permanent members in the UN Secuirty Council, wherein India is one of the aspirants to the Security Council’s permanent membership, which would further erode its credibility and legitimacy. Meanwhile, Kakar stressed that world nations build, preserve and promote peace and prosperity which is vital to reducing great power rivalry and tensions.
He also called for ensuring strict adherence to the UN Charter and consistent implementation of the Security Council resolutions to eliminate the root causes of conflicts and respect the principles of non-use of force, self-determination, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the states and peaceful co-existence.
Although, Mr. Kakar has made a concerted effort to highlight the Kashmir issue and present Pakistan’s perspective regarding important global issues including climate change, UN reforms, the war in Ukraine and others. However, the annual UNGA Summit, commentary of global leaders and rebuttals of opponents, propaganda and demonstrations inside the global forum and outside the UN Headquarters have now become customary and a periodic exercise. In fact, all such global huddles, leaders’ debates and people’s aspirations are futile if all those endeavours are cosmetary and traditional instead public problems-centric. This is the reason that UN failed to achieve it’s manifesto over the past decades.
