PM urges UN to protect Kashmiris from impending genocide by India

He credited Ehsaas Programme, other policies towards steering Pakistan out of COVID-19 pandemic.

UNITED NATIONS (Dunya News) – Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday said that the policies of his government are aimed to improve the quality of life of citizens and peace is needed to give rights to citizens.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session via video link, he said as soon as his government assumed office, they have always wanted to establish a just and humane society directed to lift the people under poverty.

The prime minister said that the 75th anniversary of UN is an important milestone towards our achievement of collective goals of peace and stability.

Regarding the government s smart lockdown policy, he said Pakistan opened up the agriculture and construction sector. He credited the government s Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme and other policies towards steering Pakistan out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Imran Khan appreciated the G20’s debt relief for the developing world and support from the IMF, World Bank, and other bodies.

COVID-19 pandemic

Speaking about COVID-19 pandemic, he said that COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated the oneness of humanity, adding that in our interconnected world, no one is safe unless everyone is safe.

He said, “COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the need for community. There could have been more people dying of hunger than the virus, in developing countries like ours.”

Khan said that locking down to control the pandemic has triggered the worst recession since the great depression in the last century and this has hit the poorest countries the hardest as well as the poor in all the countries.

“In Pakistan, we realized very early on that if we imposed a strict lockdown, we would have more people dying of hunger than the virus,” he said and therefore, we adopted a policy of ‘smart lockdown.’ “While concentrating on the virus hot-spots we opened up our agricultural sector immediately and then followed it up with the construction sector, which employed most of the people,” he added.

Money laundering

Regarding money laundering, Imran Khan said that money that should have been used on human development in developing countries has been siphoned by corrupt leaders to havens in developed countries.

He said that there is a lack of will in developed countries to curb the menace of money laundering from developing countries, adding that this will unfortunately further accentuate the difference between the rich and the poor.

PM Imran while requesting the UN assembly to channelize efforts towards stopping the illicit flow of wealth from developing countries said that there are robust anti-money laundering and anti-terror financing models.

The AID, he said, the developed countries give to developing countries is minuscule as compared to the illicit outflow of money from these developing countries.

Islamophobia

Regarding Islamophobia, PM Khan said that Muslims continue to be targeted with impunity in many countries and all this in the name of freedom of speech.

The premier went on to say that racial politics has accentuated Islamophobia. “Our shrines are being destroyed and our holy Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) blasphemous caricatures published once again in Charlie Hebdo,” he said.

He called upon UNGA to work upon international legislation to curb the blasphemy against holy Prophet Muhammad [PBUH].

India – RSS ideology

The premier said that the one country in the world today where, the state sponsors Islamophobia, is India, adding that the reason behind this is RSS ideology that unfortunately rules India today.

“This extremist ideology was founded in 1920s,” he said and added the RSS founding fathers were inspired by the Nazis and they adopted their concepts of racial purity and supremacy.

"While the Nazis  hate was directed at the Jews, the RSS directs it at the Muslims, and to a lesser extent, the Christians," he said, adding that the extremist ideologists believe that India is exclusively for Hindus and others are not equal citizens.

"The secularism of Gandhi and Nehru has been replaced by the dream of creating a Hindu Rashtra, by subjugating, even cleansing India s 200 million Muslims and other minorities," he said.

Imran Khan also spoke about the RSS s attempt to destroy the Babri Masjid and the massacre of 2,000 Muslims in the Gujarat riots. "And this was [Gujarat massacre] under the watch of chief minister Modi," he said.

Targetting minorities

Regarding Indian government’s discriminatory policies for minorities and especially Muslim, he said that around two million Muslims face the prospects of being arbitrarily stripped of their nationality through the adoption of discriminatory laws in India’s Assam state, adding that there are reports of large concentration camps being filled with by Muslim Indian citizens.

He said: “Muslims were falsely blamed, vilified and victimized for spreading the Corona virus. They were denied medical attention on many occasions, their businesses were boycotted. Cow vigilantes attack and kill Muslims with impunity. Last February, Muslims faced targeted killings, with police complicity in New Delhi.”

The premier said, “The Hindutva ideology is set to marginalize almost 3OO million human beings — Muslims, Christians and Sikhs. This is unprecedented in history and does not augur well for the future of India as we all know that marginalization of human beings leads to radicalization.”

Kashmir Dispute

PM Imran Khan urged the UN to protect the Kashmiris from “an impending genocide by India” and warned that there would be no durable peace and stability in South Asia until the Jammu and Kashmir dispute was resolved on the basis of international legitimacy.

He said the Security Council had considered the situation in Jammu and Kashmir three times in the past year. “It must take appropriate enforcement actions. It must also take steps to protect the Kashmiris from an impending genocide by India.”

The prime minister asked the global community to investigate the grave human rights violations, being perpetrated with complete impunity in IIOJK by the Indian occupation forces.

Highlighting the Indian atrocities against the Kashmiri people, the Prime Minister said these are well documented in several reports, including that of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. He said India illegally and unilaterally sought to change the status of occupied territory on fifth August last year and deployed additional troops, bringing the total number to 900,000 to impose a military siege on eight million Kashmiris. All Kashmiri political leaders were incarcerated; about 13,000 Kashmiri youth were abducted and thousands tortured; a complete curfew was imposed, accompanied by a total communications blackout.

Imran Khan said India has extra-judicially murdered hundreds of innocent young Kashmiris in fake "encounters", refusing even to hand over their bodies for burial. The Kashmiri media, and those daring to raise their voice, are being systematically harassed and intimidated through the use of draconian laws.

The prime minister said the military siege is being followed by moves to change the demographic structure of the occupied territory. This is an attempt to obliterate the distinct Kashmiri identity in order to affect the outcome of a plebiscite envisaged in the UN Security Council resolutions.

Imran Khan said brave Kashmiri people will never submit to Indian occupation and oppression. Their struggle is indigenous. They are fighting for a just cause and generation after generation have laid down their lives to rid themselves of Indian occupation.

The PM reaffirmed Pakistan s commitment to stand by their Kashmiri brothers and sisters in their legitimate struggle for self-determination.

The prime minister told the world body that India was playing a dangerous game of upping the military ante against Pakistan in a nuclearized environment, to divert the world’s attention from its illegal actions and atrocities in the Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

“Despite constant Indian provocations and ceasefire violations along the Line of Control and the Working Boundary targeting innocent civilians, Pakistan has exercised maximum restraint.

“We have consistently sensitized the world community about a ‘false flag’ operation and another ill-conceived misadventure by India.”

Imran said Pakistan had always called for a peaceful solution to the dispute. He, however, pointed out that to achieve that end “India must rescind the measures it has instituted since 5th August 2019, end its military siege and other gross human rights violations, and agree to resolve the Jammu & Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and of course the wishes of the Kashmiri people.”

Afghan peace process

Regarding Afghan peace process, the PM said that Pakistan’s desire for peace in our region is also manifest in our efforts to promote a political solution in Afghanistan.

“I have consistently maintained over the past two decades that there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan,” he said adding that the only way forward was and is a political settlement which involves the full spectrum of Afghanistan’s political actors.

He said Pakistan fully facilitated the process that culminated in the US-Taliban Peace Agreement on 29 February 2020, adding that Islamabad is deeply gratified that it has fulfilled its part of the responsibility.

He urged the Afghan leaders to seize the historic opportunity for peace to achieve reconciliation, saying that the process must be Afghan-led and Afghan-owned, and without any interference or outside influence.

“Early return of Afghan refugees must be a part of this political solution. After almost two decades of war, it is imperative not to allow “spoilers” – within and outside Afghanistan – to subvert the peace process,” he added.

Palestine Issue

Speaking about occupation of Palestine, Imran Khan said that "a just and lasting settlement is indispensable for the Middle East and actually the world".

PM Imran said that the "illegal annexations" of Palestinian lands, the building of illegal settlements and imposing "inhumane living conditions" on Palestinian people could not lead to peace.

“Pakistan supported a two-state solution – in line with the UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, within the internationally agreed parameters, and they are; pre-1967 borders, and Al-Quds Al-Sharif as the Capital of a united, contiguous and independent Palestinian state.