Senate seeks reversal of India’s Aug 5 actions in IIOJK

Hindu senator chairs session expressing solidarity with Kashmiris

The Senate on Friday unanimously passed a joint resolution, demanding reversal and revocation of India’s illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019, which were tantamount to gross violation of all UN resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir.

The resolution was passed to express solidarity with Kashmiris in connection with Kashmir Solidarity Day, being observed across the country today, during the session that was chaired by a Hindu senator.

The resolution, moved by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan, resolutely rejected the Indian illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019. Reflecting the sentiments of the people of Pakistan, the House saluted the heroism and valour of the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) on the Kashmir Solidarity Day.

The Senate firmly condemned the unabated Indian human rights violations, war crimes, and breach of international humanitarian law in the IIOJK. “Ever since Aug 5, 2019, hundreds of innocent Kashmiris have been martyred, arbitrarily arrested, or rounded up under trumped-up charges,” it noted.

The House warned India that even the worst form of state-terrorism would not break the will of the Kashmiri people or crush their legitimate struggle, which was popular, spontaneous, widespread and indigenous. It demanded that Indian Prime Minister Modi and his RSS fascist organisation, which unleashed a reign of terror on the defenceless people in IIOJK and had been involved in unspeakable atrocities, be held accountable for their crimes against humanity.

The House called upon the Indian government to stop extrajudicial killings of Kashmiri youth in fake encounters, besides cordon and search operations. It denounced the illegal Indian measures to change the demographic structure of the occupied territory and the efforts to peddle a facade of ‘normalcy’, demanding the immediate release of all political prisoners in IIOJK.

The Senate urged the international community to take note of India’s belligerence, intransigence and brazen persistence of cruelty against the Kashmiri people, including the danger of genocide which had now been documented internationally.

The House expected that the international community would take cognisance and action against India’s gross and widespread human rights violations in IIOJK as well as its open repudiation of UN resolutions.

The resolution reassured that the people, government, and parliament of Pakistan would always stand firm with their Kashmiri brothers and sisters in their just struggle until the resolution of the Kashmir dispute as per their wishes and UNSC resolutions.

The Senate reiterated its support to the people of Kashmir in the just struggle for their inalienable right to self-determination every step of the way. As the House passed the joint resolution unanimously, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani directed the quarters concerned to send the resolution with his signatures to all presiding officers of the world parliaments and the office of the United Nations secretary-general.

It may be mentioned here that Senator Krishna Kumari Kohli chaired the session and was welcomed by the loud thumping of desks as she sat in the chair’s seat.

“A Hindu presiding [over] the Senate session on Kashmir in Pakistan. Chairman Senate [asked] our colleague Krishna Kumari Kohli to do the honour. In connection with #KashmirSolidarityDay, it’s a strong message going out depicting [the] difference between Pakistan and Hindustan,” Senator Faisal Javed Khan said on Twitter.

In her own tweet, Kohli said it was a “great honour”.

“It is great honour [that] I chaired the Senate session called to discuss the current situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) on the eve of Kashmir Solidarity Day,” she said.