Moon Desk: Pakistan has spotlighted in the UN Security Council the desperate plight of Kashmiri people under Indian military occupation and slammed India for convening a G20 meeting in restive Kashmir in an attempt to project “normalcy” in the disputed territory.
Speaking during a debate on ensuring the security and dignity of people caught in the crossfire and addressing the related issue of access to food and essential services, Ambassador Munir Akram said that the key of securing peace and stability South Asia was the just and peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the Security Council resolutions.
“Deprivation and hunger are being imposed on the Kashmiri people by the suppression imposed by a 900,000-occupation army, massive violations of their human rights and the progressive expropriation of their properties and means of livelihood,” the Pakistani envoy said.
“It is, therefore, sad to see some but not all of the Group of 20 representatives allowed themselves to be used in India’s attempt to portray a false sense of normalcy in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.”
In this regard, Ambassador Akram cited the recent words of the Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Fernand De Varrenes, who warned against the attempt to “normalize military occupation, which should be decried and condemned, not pushed under the rug”.
At the outset of his remarks, he underscored the nexus between hunger and conflict, observing that 70 per cent of the 250 million people who go to bed hungry every day are in areas of armed conflict, the majority of whom are children.
The Council’s agenda, to the contrary, keeps adding new conflict situations to old and entrenched issues, as hunger continues to grow, impacting people in the Global South, the Pakistani envoy
