Will beat terrorists, abettors at all costs: COAS

By Muhammad Anis *** Mumtaz Alvi

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: The Corps Commanders Conference Tuesday noted that defeat of complete threat spectrum is only possible through a comprehensive national effort, where all segments of the society play their rightful role.

On eve of the Right to Self-Determination Day, the corps commanders expressed complete solidarity with resilient and brave Kashmiri people till the realisation of their just cause in accordance with their aspirations and relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

The 238th Corps Commanders Conference was held at General Headquarters with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa in the chair. The forum reiterated that decades of atrocities by Indian occupation forces have failed to suppress ever strengthening freedom struggle and determined Kashmiris shall succeed, InshaAllah, the ISPR said.

The participants undertook a comprehensive review of regional and domestic security environment with special focus on situation along the borders, internal security and other professional matters of the Army.

The forum expressed satisfaction over positive developments in Afghan peace process and efforts made for regional peace and stability. Forum specially discussed the ongoing security situation along the Line of Control (LoC), Working Boundary and eastern border. Training and professional pursuits must remain our prime focus to enhance operational preparedness and thwart any possible misadventure, the forum noted. “Highest standards of capability and maintaining cutting edge at all levels is vital to meet all challenges in tandem with other elements of national power,” the COAS emphasised.

The conference voiced respect and appreciation for all those who are putting their lives at stake fighting against COVID-19. The participants paid special tribute to all Shuhada and their families for supreme sacrifices rendered for peaceful and secure Pakistan, especially, the recent incidents in Balochistan observing that sacrifices would not go waste. The COAS said terrorists and their abettors will be defeated at all costs.

Meanwhile, Kashmiris on both sides of the LoC and the world over observed Right to Self Determination Day with a renewed pledge to continue their liberation struggle till it reaches its ultimate goal. Rallies were held in Islamabad and Srinagar and memorandums were presented at the UN offices for implantation of its resolutions on Kashmir.

It was on January 05 in 1949 when the UN Security Council passed a resolution supporting the Kashmiris right to decide their future by themselves through UN-sponsored plebiscite. The day was marked by various activities including rallies seminars and conferences across the world to remind the UN that it must implement its relevant resolutions to settle the Kashmir dispute and save Kashmiris from the Indian brutalities.

Hurriyet leaders and organisations called upon the United Nations and international community to fulfil their pledge by granting Kashmiris their basic right to self-determination.

Large number of protestors gathered outside Indian Embassy to protest persistent Indian brutalities against innocent people of the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K).

President Dr Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan in their separate messages on the Kashmiris Right to Self Determination Day urged the UN to honour its commitment of providing the right to self-determination to the people of Kashmir.

They said being a direct party to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, Pakistan will continue its strong and steadfast support for Kashmiri people till realisation of their inalienable right to self-determination in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.

The president said the global community cannot shy away from their responsibility in guaranteeing a free and fair plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said for over seven decades the life of Kashmiris in IOJ&K has been a chronicle of state-sponsored cruelty and terrorism. He said owing to Indian intransigence the UN Security Council has failed to fulfil its pledge to the Kashmiri people. Imran Khan said India has unleashed a new reign of terror in IOJ&K since August 2019. He said the nation stands united on Kashmir and stand by Kashmiris for their struggle for right to self-determination.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi invited the opposition in the Senate for talks to thrash out a comprehensive action plan aimed at resolution of the lingering Jammu and Kashmir problem.

The minister emphasised that the message to Kashmiris should be that Pakistan was part of their ongoing movement for the right to self-determination.

The PPP parliamentary leader Sherry Rehman, who opened the debate on Kashmir, said “The important date, January 05, marks the promise of the UN and the international community to the people of IOJ&K, who now live under a colonising, violent rule of a neo fascist regime in India, and how the regime has converted a valley of flowers and beauty to a dark valley of death. It is now Illegally Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir.”

She emphasized that the international community had made a promise of a free and fair plebiscite in Kashmir: the right to self-determination was one of the most fundamental rights guaranteed by the UN, all international charters and by all our countries constitutions where we live as citizens. “This is about reminding the international community of the important promise they had made and how they have turned away from that promise and how they do not see what is going on there,” she pointed out.

Qureshi said working for Kashmir cause was an obligation of the government and it would do its best with honesty and sincerity.

About the change of Occupied Kashmir’s status, he said it was part of BJP’s manifesto even when Indian prime minister was guest of the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif at Jati Umra.

The House adopted a resolution of solidarity with Asiya Andrabi and her supporters, incarcerated in notorious Tihar Jail. The resolution urged the government to take up the issue of her detention and miseries with the world bodies.

Meanwhile, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz said that January 05 reminds the United Nations that the Security Council resolutions adopted on this day in 1949 to grant the people of Kashmir the right to self-determination has not yet been implemented.

In a tweet, he said that the right to self-will was a fundamental human and a universal legal right. He said that denial of self-will right was denial of human freedom, values and principles as it was an integral part of the values of human dignity.

Paying tributes to Kashmiri freedom fighters, he said that no oppressor has been able to force them to give up their just struggle for this legitimate, fundamental democratic right. He urged the world community to break its silence on Indian crimes against humanity in Occupied Kashmir.

President Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Sardar Masood Khan said that determination of the future through a free and fair plebiscite is the fate of the Kashmiri people and they are not ready to make any compromise on their birth-right to self-determination.

In a statement, he said it is the basic responsibility of eh UN to ensure an environment conducive for holding a free, fair and impartial plebiscite in IOJ&K.

The AJK president said that this was for the first time that the international community had recognised the fundamental right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people through a comprehensive UN resolution in January 1949, but India has emerged as the biggest hurdle in the implementation of this resolution.

AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan said durable and lasting peace between Pakistan and India could not be possible unless the Kashmir issue was resolved in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of Kashmiris.

He said the right to self-determination is the fundamental objective of Kashmiris and they would continue their struggle till the achievement of this goal.