President Asif Ali Zardari sharply criticized the recent Legislative Assembly elections in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) on Wednesday. He stated that these elections could never take the place of the Kashmiri people’s inalienable right to self-determination.
President Zardari emphasized that the people of Kashmir do not recognize these elections and that they do not reflect their goals during a meeting with a delegation of IIOJK migrants who have been residing in Pakistan since 1989. He restated that the elections were a front to hide the real problem, which is Kashmir’s sovereignty.
The president called on the international community to hold the administration of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi responsible for the persistent violations of human rights that are occurring in the area. He denounced the abuses, saying that the unlawful occupation by India still results in the residents of Kashmir being oppressed.
Zardari emphasised that the international community must act decisively and demanded that a plebiscite be held in IIOJK right away, in accordance with the pertinent resolutions of the UN Security Council. He emphasised that the only practical way to decide the future of the Kashmiri people is to have a vote.
In addition, the president criticised the Legislative Assembly elections, citing them as a component of India’s larger plan to strengthen its hold on the occupied region. Such steps, he claimed, would neither legitimise India’s illegal occupation of IIOJK nor quell the Kashmiri people’s unflinching freedom movement.
Zardari’s statements remind us that Pakistan is still committed to assisting the Kashmiri people on all diplomatic fronts and that they have not yet exercised their internationally recognised right to self-determination.