Pakistan thanks world community for support on Kashmir

KARACHI, Pakistan

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday applauded the international community, for calling upon India to stop human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan had earlier said that over 50 countries, including Turkey, as well as members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Tuesday supported its call, to end human rights violations, through a joint statement issued at the 42nd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

“I commend 58 countries that joined Pakistan at the UN Human Rights Council on Sept. 10, reinforcing demands of international community for India, to stop use of force, lift siege, remove other restrictions, respect and protect Kashmir’s rights, and resolve Kashmir dispute through the UNSC resolutions”, Khan said in series of tweets on Thursday.

He also welcomed the European Union’s call in the UNHRC for a peaceful solution of the Kashmir dispute, in line with the UNSC resolutions, international law and bilateral agreements.

Khan, also a former cricket icon, is planning to address a public rally in Muzaffarabad- the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir or Azad Kashmir”, on Friday, where he is expected to make a “policy statement” on Kashmir.

Already soured relations between the two South Asian nuclear rivals, have further plummeted after India’s controversial move of scrapping special provisions to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The state has been under a near-complete lockdown since Aug. 5.

Several rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have repeatedly called on India to lift restrictions and release political detainees.

Indian authorities, however, claim that daytime restrictions have been lifted in 90% of the region.

From 1954 until Aug. 5, 2019, Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed special status under the Indian constitution, which allowed it to enact its own laws.

The provisions also protected the region's citizenship law, which barred outsiders from settling in and owning land in the territory.

India and Pakistan both hold Kashmir in parts and claim it in full. China also controls part of the contested region, but it is India and Pakistan who have fought two wars over Kashmir.