KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
Kashmir based lawyers Saturday vowed to use “all possible means” to persuade by “mounting pressure” on the UN Security Council to implement its resolutions on Kashmir.
“In the first instance,” Kashmir Bar Association in a statement said, “we have decided to write letters to all the Heads of the Member Countries of the UN Organizations to fulfil their obligation cast by UN Charter and other International Covenants on them and pressurize India to respect the rights of the people of Kashmir by allowing them to determine their political status through an independent and impartial exercise of right of self-determination.”
The decision, the statement said, was taken by the Executive Committee of the Bar Association held yesterday in District Court complex, Bemina Srinagar.
The Bar members deliberated upon the statement of UN Peace Building Commission Chairman, Macharia Kamau. The statement of the top UN official, the Bar statement added, “came under sharp criticism”.
Kamau in response to a question in the United Nations had said that the “Kashmir issue will be resolved in the context of the local domestic political environment between Pakistan and India”. Kamau is also Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the UN.
“The members were unanimous in saying that since chapter VII of the UN Charter deals with the situations where International Agencies can resort to intervention and even Article 39 provides that the Security Council shall determine the existence of any threat, to the peace, breach of peace or acts of aggression and shall make recommendations or decide what measures, shall be taken in accordance with Article 41 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace and security, therefore, keeping in view the situation in Kashmir and the plight of the people, who have undergone a hell, during the past 68 years, it is incumbent on the UN Security Council, to take effective steps for the implementation of its resolutions, so that peace and security is established in the sub-continent, which for the non-implementation of those resolutions, is aggravating day by day and so far, has taken the lives of about a million of people, who are fighting for their right of self-determination,” the statement said.
“It was also stated that in terms of Article 42 of UN Charter, the Security Council has the power, after considering that measures taken by it, are inadequate or have proven to be in adequate, that it can take such action which is necessary to enforce its resolutions and maintain international peace and security. Such action even includes demonstrations, blockade and other operation by Air, Sea, or Land forces of members of the UN. Since J&K has been converted into a military garrison by the Indian Forces and the human rights of the people are violated with impunity and besides use of force, there is intimidation, aggression, arrest, torture, humiliation, disappearance after arrest, custodial killings and also interference by the army in all walks of life of the people of J&K, without any accountability or fear of prosecution and punishment, therefore, for protecting the rights of the people, it is but necessary for the security council to intervene immediately, without further loss of time and get its resolutions implemented, as they have done in other places in the World, so that the safety and security of the people, whose rights have been trampled with might and power, is safeguarded without any further bloodshed,” the statement added, “it was also stated that the people of Kashmir under UN Charter, as well as under International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenants on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, are entitled to live a peaceful life and have also the right to determine their political status freely, therefore, it is the bounden duty of the Security Council to come forward and save the people of the State, from the onslaught of aggression and tyranny of the Indian might in Kashmir.”
In this backdrop, the Bar members said that the statement of UN Peace Building Commission, Chairman, “being not in accordance with the UN Charter and other International Declaration of the UN, therefore, the UN Security Council should ask these authorities to desist from making any statement, which will have negative effect, on the rights of the people, but in order to uphold the human dignity and respect for human rights, impress upon the member states to concede to the Right of Self Determination of the people without compelling them, as a last resort to rebellion, which in the process, will disturb the peace and tranquillity in the World.”
“Kashmir is internationally recognized dispute and the UN by passing more than 27 Resolutions on Kashmir has acknowledged the right of the people to decide about their future, in a free and fair plebiscite, to be conducted under the UN auspices and thus the statement made by UN Peace Building Commission Chairman cannot be termed to be a realistic one, but a hotchpotch of misunderstanding of Kashmir,” the statement further said.
