President Erdogan and PM Imran Khan raise Kashmir Issue at UNGA

The annual meetings of the United Nations began in New York on Monday with Kashmir on the agenda as an unresolved dispute. In doing so, the world body gave a deaf ear to Indian request to remove the 72-year-old issue from the UN Security Council’s agenda for this year.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has once again said that Kashmir conflict is key to the stability and peace of South Asia. Erdogan, in his address via video-link on Tuesday, called it “a burning issue”. 

He said, “Steps taken following the abolition of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir further complicated the problem. We are in favor of solving this issue through dialogue within the framework of the UN resolutions and especially in line with the expectations of the people of Kashmir.”

Mr. Erdogan is the leader of the only Muslim country , other than Pakistan, who has raised his strong voice in support of the rights of the people of Kashmir at the current session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). His staunch support has been a source of strength for the just struggle of Kashmiris for their right to self-determination. His statement on Kashmir has inflamed India whose permanent representative at the UN T.S. Tirumurti described President Erdogan’s remarks as gross interference in India’s internal affairs.

PM Imran Khan of Pakistan also spoke to the UNGA via video link. His speech was appreciated by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference for effectively highlighting Kashmir dispute and Indian atrocities in territory at UN General Assembly. The website of the APHC has mentioned that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s address had truly unveiled the ugly face of the so-called democratic India before the world. Hurriyat leaders Muhammad Yousuf Naqash and Abdul Samad Inqalabi said that Imran Khan’s address was the true reflection of the Kashmiris’ aspirations.

Here are some important points from PM Imran Khan’s address to the UNGA on 25th September.

1. There will be no durable peace and stability in South Asia until the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is resolved on the basis of international legitimacy. Kashmir has been rightly described as a “nuclear flash point”.

2. The Security Council must prevent a disastrous conflict and secure the implementation of its own resolutions as it did in the case of East Timor. The Council has considered the situation in Jammu and Kashmir three times in the past year. It must take appropriate enforcement actions. It must also take steps to protect the Kashmiris from an impending genocide by India. 

3. The brave Kashmiri people will never submit to Indian occupation and oppression. Their struggle is indigenous. They are fighting for a just cause and generation after generation have laid down their lives to rid themselves of Indian occupation.

4. The government and people of Pakistan are committed to standing by and supporting their Kashmiri brothers and sisters in their legitimate struggle for self-determination.(Geo News, September 25^th, 2020)