ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani said yesterday that India has no right to take any unilateral action on the status of occupied Kashmir, strongly rejecting the decision taken by its supreme court as invalid.

The foreign minister's remarks came hours after the Supreme Court of India upheld the Modi government's 2019 annexation of the disputed territory.

The unanimous verdict was handed down by a panel of five judges, on over a dozen petitions challenging the revocation and a subsequent decision to split the region into two federally administered territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and the Buddhist territory of Ladakh. Jillani said that Jammu and Kashmir was a global conflict, and that there were UN resolutions present on the matter.

"Indian actions on August 5, 2019 were illegal and in violation of UN resolutions," he said, adding that the people of Kashmir had already rejected unilateral actions.

"The decision of the Indian Supreme Court cannot divert the attention of the world from the ongoing Indian atrocities in Kashmir," Jillani asserted. Reiterating that Indian actions were a violation of international law, the foreign minister added that its actions were an attempt at committing genocide of the Kashmiris and turning them into a minority in their own land.

The foreign minister maintained that the issue will be raised before all stakeholders as Islamabad has already shed light on New Delhi's unilateral actions.

Jilani added that all international forums, including the United Nations, the European Union and OIC are aware of Indian's unilateral actions of August 5, 2019.Maintaining that the issue of occupied Kashmir has been on the UN's agenda for decades, he reiterated the government's demand that all UN resolutions on the disputed region should be followed to resolve the Kashmir issue.

Elaborating further, he said Islamabad will consider all options following the Indian SC's decision, and added that the country's apex court had also passed a biased verdict in the Babri Masjid demolition case. "Today's decision is also of the same nature."Jillani said since the abrogation of Article 370, those living in occupied Kashmir have suffered under numerous restrictions, and serious violations of human rights by New Delhi's forces continue in IIOJK. He reminded that India had also denied permission to independent observers from the OIC to visit the disputed region.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) also categorically rejected the judgment announced by the Indian Supreme Court on the status of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

The ministry maintained that Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally-recognised dispute, one that has remained on the agenda of the UN Security Council for over seven decades.

He FO maintained that India's unilateral decisions remained 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".

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

Published in The Daily National Courier, December, 12 2023

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