Pakistan urges UN to act on Kashmir and Palestine disputes
Says lasting peace in South Asia impossible without Kashmir settlement
New York: Pakistan has urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to “actively” pursue a just and peaceful settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in line with its resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people, warning that lasting peace in South Asia will remain elusive without resolving this decades-old issue.
According to Kashmir Media Service, addressing the UN General Assembly’s Special Political and Decolonization Committee, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, said that while Islamabad seeks “peaceful and cooperative” relations with New Delhi, peace cannot be achieved through injustice and suppression of fundamental rights.
“India must end its human rights violations in occupied Jammu and Kashmir and immediately rescind all unilateral and unlawful measures taken since August 5, 2019,” Ambassador Ahmad stated.
He noted that although the UN Declaration on Decolonization upholds the right of all peoples to self-determination, both Palestinians and Kashmiris remain denied that right. Drawing parallels between the two struggles, he said the ongoing tragedy in Gaza continues to “cast a long shadow over the credibility of the international order and the United Nations.”
Highlighting the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, the envoy said that generations of Palestinians have endured occupation, displacement, and cycles of violence. He called for the establishment of an independent State of Palestine based on pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif (Jerusalem) as its capital, emphasizing that “occupation must end, for it is the root cause of instability in the region.”
Turning to the Kashmir issue, he underscored that it remains one of the oldest unresolved disputes on the UN agenda, with Security Council resolutions explicitly calling for an impartial plebiscite under UN supervision to determine the will of the Kashmiri people.
“Both India and Pakistan accepted these commitments. Under Article 25 of the UN Charter, implementation of these resolutions is binding,” he said, adding that India has been evading its obligations for more than seven decades “through repression, deception, and brute force.”
Describing Kashmir as the world’s most militarized zone, the ambassador said that over 900,000 Indian troops have unleashed a “reign of terror” marked by extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and mass detentions. He lamented that the legitimate Kashmiri leadership has been behind bars since 2019, with several leaders dying in custody.
He further said that India was pursuing a settler-colonial agenda by altering Kashmir’s demographic structure—issuing millions of domicile certificates to non-residents and confiscating land for military use.
“This is a blatant attempt to convert the Muslim-majority territory into a Hindu-majority one—an enterprise driven by extremist Hindutva ideology that promotes religious supremacy and persecution of minorities,” he said.
Reaffirming Pakistan’s stance, Ambassador Ahmad concluded that Islamabad will continue to champion the unfinished agenda of decolonization, asserting that the UN’s credibility depends on fulfilling its promises of justice and self-determination.
