The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has stated that Jammu and Kashmir is a United Nations-mandated disputed territory and that India has occupied it against the will of the Kashmiri people. According to Kashmir Media Service, APHC spokesman Advocate Abdul Rashid Minhas in a statement issued after a meeting in Srinagar, strongly criticized the Indian Bharatiya Janata Party government and its military establishment for claiming that the situation in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) is normal.  

He said the entire territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which is not a part of India, remains under brutal occupation and its people face an extremely grim situation. The APHC spokesman said that Indian rulers had promised the Kashmiri people their right to self-determination through a plebiscite but are instead continuously strengthening their occupation while ignoring these commitments. 

The meeting expressed serious concern over the escalation of Indian state terrorism and atrocities in the occupied territory and emphasized that the resolution of the Kashmir dispute was essential for lasting peace in South Asia. The APHC said there is no guarantee of life and property without a just settlement of the long-pending Kashmir dispute.

India projects itself as the world’s democratic state and celebrates January 26 as Republic Day, these claims stand exposed in Jammu and Kashmir, where democratic rights have been denied to the Kashmiri people for over 78 years, it added. The APHC said Kashmiris are neither enemies of India nor oppose its people or their Republic Day celebrations within the internationally recognized boundaries of India.

However, they maintained India has no constitutional or moral justification to celebrate such official events in the occupied territory, which it controls through military force. The APHC reiterated that the UN Charter supports the right to self-determination of all nations and recognizes it as a fundamental and birthright of every human being.

“India has made promises at both national and international levels to hold a referendum in Jammu and Kashmir, but these promises remain unfulfilled, and the Kashmiri people continue to be denied their democratic right,” the meeting lamented.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)