Call for
acceptable solution to Kashmir
UNITED NATIONS—Stating that the right to self-determination was the most
fundamental collective human right of peoples, Pakistan has called for a
solution of the Kashmir dispute acceptable to India and Pakistan as well
the Kashmiri people.
“Pakistan believes that any durable solution of this (Kashmir) dispute
will require flexibility and boldness on both sides,” Ambassador Munir
Akram told the U.N. General Assembly’s Third Committee on Tuesday.
Speaking in a debate on the right of peoples to self-determination, he
dealt at length with the Kashmir issue, saying that even after six
decades, the Kashmiri people have been denied that right.
“The principle of equal rights of people and their right to
self-determination has been applied and exercised in most parts of the
world today”, the Pakistan ambassador said. “However, the free exercise
of this right has been denied, so far, in several other parts of the
world, such as in Jammu and Kashmir and Palestine”.
“...Pakistan has extended political, moral and diplomatic support to the
exercise of this right by all other peoples recognized as being entitled
to this right, including the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
“Pakistan ’s position on the issue of Kashmir was adopted on the basis
of the UN Charter, international law, the resolutions of the Security
Council”.
Ambassador Akram said that four principles regarding right of
self-determination needed to be constantly reaffirmed. The forcible
occupation of the territory of a people whose right of
self-determination had been recognized was a clear violation of
international law and the United Nations Charter. The right to
self-determination could be exercised freely only if it was unfettered
by overt and covert coercion and influence.
It could not be exercised freely under conditions of foreign occupation
and repression. It was immutable and could not be extinguished by the
passage of time, and the legitimacy of the struggles of peoples for
self-determination could not be compromised by tarnishing them with the
“tarbrush of terrorism”.
The Pakistan ambassador said six decades had passed since the Kashmiri
people had been promised the exercise of that right by the Security
Council, which had pronounced that the area’s future would be decided
through a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under United Nations
auspices. After decades of confrontation and conflict, largely over
Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan and India had been engaged in dialogue for
three years to resolve the issue. Several confidence-building measures
had been adopted.
President Pervez Musharraf had advanced several creative ideas,
including demilitarization, self-rule and joint administration, he said.
Any durable solution would require flexibility and boldness on both
sides and be acceptable to Pakistan and India and, above all, to the
people of Jammu and Kashmir. |
