Most members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) expressed grief over violations of basic human rights in the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir, during the convention, said Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi on Friday.
“The majority of the UNSC member countries said they are concerned over a grave situation involving the human rights violations,” Lodhi told media in New York after the Security Council’s meeting.
“One important permanent member even said the human rights violations in the occupied valley should be probed,” she added.
Narrating the UNSC meeting as highly significant progress, Lodhi said misery and plight of the Kashmiri people were recognized during the convention.
“Kashmiris are not alone, their voices have been heard, their plight, their hardship, their pain, their suffering, their occupation and the consequences of that occupation have been heard in the UNSC,” she said.
“We want to use the diplomatic means for the resolution of the issue,” she stressed.
India’s BJP-driven government overruled a 7 decades-old rule that gave the power of autonomy to the occupied and disputed Muslim-majority region of Kashmir.
All phones, internet services, and cable networks were cut off overnight and Kashmiri leaders placed under house arrest amid escalating tensions following a massive stationing of troops.
The closed-door meeting was summoned by China on Pakistan’s request to discuss the issue. In the UNSC meeting that was conducted on Kashmir after 50 years, the members were briefed over the situation.
Pakistani Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi stressed the UNSC meeting has endorsed the fact that this is an internationally recognized dispute, countering India’s narrative that the issue was its “internal matter”.
She pointed out that the UNSC meeting reaffirmed that its resolutions on the occupied Jammu and Kashmir are still valid.
She thanked all 15 countries for supporting the Kashmiri people and agreeing to hold the meeting despite efforts made by India to cancel or delay the meeting.
She said the entire world is pondering over the situation in the occupied state, “This is the first and not the last step. It will not end here. It will only end when justice is done to the IoK people.”
“Pakistan will always be there to stand by the Kashmiri people with undeterred diplomatic and political support. Their voices will always be heard,” she added.