46th Session UNHRC: Intervention by Mr. Junaid Qureshi (Director EFSAS)
15-03-2021, Geneva (Virtual)
Text and video of Mr. Junaid Qureshi's Intervention on General Debate Item 4 (Human rights situations that require the Council's attention) during the 46th Session of the UN Human Rights Council.
Video of Mr. Junaid Qureshi's Intervention on General Debate Item 4 during the 46th Session of the UNHRC
"Madam President,
I would like to draw the Council’s attention to the issue of Jammu & Kashmir.
Last month, on Pakistan’s so-called Kashmir Solidarity Day, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that Pakistan would be willing to give Kashmiris the right to independence.
This misleading statement, aimed at deceiving the International community, needs to be put into perspective.
It was Pakistan that invaded and divided my Homeland in 1947, and in 1949 it literally shut the door to independence for us Kashmiris. Had it not been for Pakistan’s bidding at the UN that the option of an independent Jammu & Kashmir be removed, we could well have aspired to an independent status at that time, as also today.
Next, in 1989, it unleashed a policy of death and destruction by exporting terrorism into the Kashmir Valley. To this day, the Pakistani Military Establishment continues to patronize dozens of terrorist groups.
Thousands of Kashmiris have died in this proxy war orchestrated by Pakistan.
Madam President,
Unless the Prime Minister is held accountable for his words and pressed to give independence to Pakistan Administered Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan, parts of my land which Pakistan occupies, the trivialization of the Jammu & Kashmir issue will only be further encouraged.
If nothing else, I would urge this Council to intervene and at least assist us Kashmiris in achieving independence from Pakistan’s solidarity.
With such solidarity, we shudder to think what animosity would look like.
Thank you".
