Islamabad, 05 August 2021 (Anadolu News)

Pakistan on Thursday urged the international community to hold India accountable for human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.

In a message on the second anniversary of India’s annexation of the disputed region, Prime Minister Imran Khan said New Delhi has failed to break the will of the Kashmiri people.

“Today marks two years since India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019 in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK),” he said. “These actions were followed by an unprecedented military siege and restrictions on fundamental rights and freedoms of the Kashmiri people to perpetuate Indian occupation in the occupied territory.”

He added that Kashmiris face unabated extrajudicial killings, custodial torture, and death, arbitrary detentions, burning and looting of houses to inflict collective punishment, and other worst forms of human rights abuses.

Kashmir is held by India and Pakistan but claimed by both in full. On Aug. 5, 2019, the Indian government revoked Article 370 and other related provisions from its Constitution, scrapping the country’s only Muslim-majority state with its autonomy. It was also split into two federally administered territories.

Khan accused India of bringing demographic changes to the disputed territory through domicile and land ownership laws. He said India’s “unilateral actions” are aimed at changing the region’s demographic structure, and converting Kashmiris into a “minority in their own land.”

He called the measures a blatant violation of international law, including the UN Charter, UN Security Council resolutions, and the Fourth Geneva Convention. “Pakistan, the Kashmiris, and the international community forcefully rejected these steps,” he said.

The Pakistani prime minister reaffirmed his country’s commitment to the Kashmir cause. He assured all possible assistance to Kashmiris until the realization of their right to self-determination and a just resolution of the dispute in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.