Pakistan not to relent in support to Kashmiris: FM

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan will not relent in its support until the Kashmiris realize their legitimate right to self-determination in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions. Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah has reiterated Pakistan’s complete solidarity with the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK) and assured the Kashmiri brothers and sisters that the Government and the people of Pakistan stood united with them.
“Pakistan will not relent in its support until the Kashmiris realize their legitimate right to self-determination in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions,”
the foreign minister said in a message for August 5 to mark Youm-e-Istehsal. Foreign Minister Qureshi said Pakistan called upon the international community to hold India accountable for its crimes against the Kashmiris and demanded that India reversed its  illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019, revoke draconian laws, cease all human rights violations, and stop its state-terrorism against the people of IIOJK.
On this day today, marking twenty-four months since India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019, we honour sacrifices of Kashmiris and salute their indomitable spirit in their just struggle for inalienable right to self-determination,” he said. In violation of the United Nations Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir and of international law, the
foreign minister said India tried to obliterate the distinct identity of the Kashmiri people.
“India hoped that by attempting to alter demographic structure of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK), it could dampen the spirit of the Kashmiri people or at the very least, make them compromise on their legitimate right to self-determination. On both counts, India has abjectly failed.
These steps were forcefully rejected by Pakistan, the Kashmiris, and the international community,” he further added.
Qureshi said the unabated Indian repression, including extra-judicial killings of innocent Kashmiris, unprecedented restrictions on freedom of speech, fake encounters, cordon-andsearch operations, custodial torture and deaths, enforced disappearances, incarceration of the Kashmiri leadership and youth, use of pellet guns, destruction and burning of houses, and other methods of subjugation had miserably failed to shake the resolve of the Kashmiri people.
In his message on Youm-e-Istehsal marking two years of India’s illegal act of August 5, 2019, the foreign minister said in violation of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir and of international law, India tried to obliterate
the distinct identity of the Kashmiri people. “We express complete solidarity with the people of IIOJK and assure our Kashmiri brothers and sisters that the Government and people of Pakistan stand united with them,” he said.
The foreign minister said Pakistan honoured sacrifices of Kashmiris and salute their indomitable spirit in their just struggle for inalienable right to self-determination.
He said India hoped that by attempting to alter demographic structure of Indian Illegally occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK) that it could dampen the spirit of the Kashmiri people or at the very least, make them compromise on their legitimate right to self-determination. “On both counts, India has abjectly failed. These steps were forcefully rejected by Pakistan, the Kashmiris, and the international community,” he said. He mentioned the unabated Indian repression including extra-judicial killings of innocent Kashmiris, unprecedented
restrictions on freedom of speech, fake encounters, cordon-and-search operations, custodial torture and deaths.