Pakistan rejects Indian SC ruling on Kashmir special status

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has categorically rejected the judgment announced by the Supreme Court of India on the special status of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing a presser in Islamabad on Monday, Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani said that Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized disputed territory, so India has no right to determine the status of the disputed territory of Occupied Kashmir.

“The judicial endorsement of India’s unilateral and illegal actions of 5 August 2019 is a travesty of justice, based on distorted historical and legal arguments.”

The foreign minister said the Indian Supreme Court’s verdict fails to recognize the internationally-recognized disputed nature of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. It further fails to cater to the aspirations of the Kashmiri people, who have already rejected India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019. The judgment is yet another manifestation of the pliant judiciary under India’s ruling dispensation.

He maintained that the Indian SC verdict holds no importance. He said that Pakistan will call a meeting of all stakeholders soon and the future strategy will be decided in the meeting.

Jilani said India cannot abdicate its international obligations on the pretext of domestic legislations and judicial verdicts. Its plans to annex IIOJK are bound to fail.

He held that the restoration of statehood, conduct of State Assembly elections or similar steps cannot serve as a substitute to the grant of the right to self-determination to the Kashmiri people.

He said the judgment cannot distract the international community’s attention from the gross and systematic human rights violations being perpetrated in the IIOJK.

The foreign minister said India’s unilateral and illegal measures since 5 August 2019 have been aimed at changing the demographic structure and political landscape of the IIOJK, in flagrant violation of international law and the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, especially Resolution 122 of 1957. They remain a matter of grave concern for Pakistan as their ultimate goal is to convert the Kashmiris into a disempowered community in their own land. These measures must be rescinded to create an environment for peace and dialogue.

He said Pakistan will continue to extend its full political, diplomatic and moral support to the people of the IIOJK for realization of their inalienable right to self-determination.

He said that the reputation of the Supreme Court of India has been damaged, the Indian court also gave a wrong decision in the Babri Masjid case. Indian legal experts also believe that the decision of the Supreme Court of India has no legal status. Unfortunately, the Indian judiciary has become a blind judiciary.

He said that the Kashmir dispute has been lingering for the last seven decades. India has been violating the 1952 decision of the Security Council.

In response to a question, the caretaker foreign minister said that there is no personal freedom in Occupied Kashmir and no rule of law. Elections in the occupied valley cannot fulfill the right of self-determination of the people of Kashmir.

Jilani further said that international law does not recognize the unilateral illegal actions of India on August 5, 2019, Pakistan will raise this matter before the OIC. He said Pakistan will inform the UN Secretary General and the European Parliament about the Indian court decision. The United Nations should make India to implement its resolutions, he added.