Factually incorrect statements cannot alter Kashmir’s disputed status: APHC-AJK
Islamabad : The All Parties Hurriyat Conference Azad Jammu and Kashmir (APHC-AJK) chapter has strongly rejected US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor’s statement describing Jammu and Kashmir as part of India, saying that such unilateral and factually incorrect remarks cannot alter the disputed status of the territory.
According to Kashmir Media Service, APHC-AJK Convener Ghulam Mohammad Safi and other leaders said Jammu and Kashmir was an internationally recognized dispute whose future could not be determined through force, occupation or diplomatic statements, but only through the free will of the Kashmiri people expressed through a UN-supervised plebiscite.
They said the US Ambassador’s statement was also contrary to statements by US President Donald Trump regarding a possible US role in resolving the Kashmir dispute and amounted to an attempt to disregard the Kashmiri people’s fundamental right to self-determination.
The leaders maintained that political or diplomatic statements could neither change historical facts and international law nor override the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. They added that despite India’s unilateral measures of August 5, 2019, the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir had not changed.
The Hurriyat leaders said Kashmir was fundamentally an issue concerning the political future of the Kashmiri people. They urged India to stop suppressing the voice of Kashmiris through force and misleading the international community, and instead allow them to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination.
Ghulam Muhammad Safi said the people of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir would continue their struggle for freedom and self-determination, adding that a lasting settlement of the Kashmir dispute was possible only in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
