Imran Khan Rakes up Kashmir Issue at UNGA, Demand Geelani’s Proper Burial & Rites; India Slams Khan, Pakistan Should immediately Vacate All Areas Under its Illegal Occupation
NEW YORK: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan early Saturday delivered his address to the 76th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, where he stressed on the need for the world to recognise that the “only way” forward when it comes to Afghanistan is to “strengthen and stabilise the current government”. He said this is imperative “for the sake of the people of Afghanistan”.
“Right now the whole international community should think what is the way ahead. There are two paths that we can take. If we neglect Afghanistan right now, according to the UN half the people of Afghanistan are already vulnerable, and by next year almost 90% of the people in Afghanistan will go below the poverty line.
“There is a huge humanitarian crisis looming ahead. And this will have serious repercussions not just for the neighbours of Afghanistan but everywhere,” he said.
“For the current situation in Afghanistan, for some reason, Pakistan has been blamed for the turn of events, by politicians in the United States and some politicians in Europe,” Khan said. “From this platform, I want them all to know, the country that suffered the most, apart from Afghanistan, was Pakistan when we joined the US war on terror after 9/11.”
Khan reserved his harshest words, once again labelling Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government “fascist.”
“The hate-filled ‘Hindutva’ ideology, propagated by the fascist RSS-BJP regime, has unleashed a reign of fear and violence against India’s 200 million strong Muslim community,” he said.
“Mob lynching by cow vigilantes; frequent pogroms, such as the one in New Delhi last year; discriminatory citizenship laws to purge India of Muslims; and a campaign to destroy mosques across India and obliterate its Muslim heritage and history, are all part of this criminal enterprise,” the premier said.
He said India has:
- undertaken a series of illegal and unilateral measures in occupied Jammu and Kashmir since August 5, 2019;
- unleashed a reign of terror by an occupation force of 900,000;
- jailed senior Kashmiri leadership;
- imposed a clampdown on media and internet;
- violently suppressed peaceful protests;
- abducted 13,000 young Kashmiris and tortured hundreds of them;
- extra-judicially killed hundreds of innocent Kashmiris in fake “encounters”; and
- imposed collective punishments by destroying entire neighbourhoods and villages.
“India’s actions in Jammu and Kashmir also violate international human rights and humanitarian laws, including the 4th Geneva Convention, and amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity,” he added.
Pakistan desires peace with India, neighbours
Khan said Pakistan desires peace with India, as with all its neighbours. “But sustainable peace in South Asia is contingent upon resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, in accordance with the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, and the wishes of the Kashmiri people,” he said.
He specifically decried the “forcible snatching of the mortal remains of the great Kashmiri leader” Syed Ali Geelani , who died earlier this month at 91.
Geelani’s family has said authorities took his body and buried him discreetly and without their consent, denying the separatist leader revered in Kashmir a proper Islamic burial.
Khan called upon the General Assembly to demand Geelani’s proper burial and rites. He said Pakistan desires peace, but it is India’s responsibility to meaningfully engage.
‘Pak has history of supporting terrorists’, India slams Imran Khan in its Right of Reply at UNGA
India slammed Imran Khan in its Right of Reply in response against Pakistan Prime Prime Minister’s references to Kashmir in his United Nations General Assembly virtual speech and stated that Islamabad has an established history of actively supporting terrorists.
Sneha Dubey First Secretary at UNGA said, “Regrettably, this is not the first time the leader of Pakistan has misused platforms provided by the UN to propagate false and malicious propaganda against my country, and seeking in vain to divert the world’s attention from the sad state of his country where terrorists enjoy free pass while the lives of ordinary people, especially those belonging to the minority communities, are turned upside down.”
Sneha Dubey First Secretary at UNGA said, Entire UTs of Jammu & Kashmir & Ladakh were, are & will always be integral & inalienable part of India. This includes areas that are under illegal occupation of Pakistan. We call upon Pakistan to immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation.
(With Inputs From Agencies)