Kashmir, Palestine & Islamophobia

The PMs speech pointed out the real problems of the world
By: Muhammad Zahid Rifat

Lingering unresolved issues of Kashmir and Palestine, non-implementation and no enforcement of Resolutions adopted decades back by the UN Security Council and the mounting threat to humanity in general, and particularly to Muslims, in the form of Islamophobia were the main problems confronting the Muslim Ummah.

These were duly, quite rightly and emphatically highlighted by Prime Minister Imran Khan while addressing the UN General Assembly session for the second time in two years. His maiden address last year was delivered in person in New York but the second one a few days back was virtual address owing to the coronavirus pandemic. While in New York, the Prime Minister besides addressing UN General Assembly had availed the opportunity of meeting a number of world leaders on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, but this time having to deliver the address virtually had deprived him of this opportunity.

The international community  was told in very plain words  that there will be no durable peace and stability in South Asia until the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is resolved, the Security Council was urged to prevent a disastrous conflict and secure the implementation of its own resolutions as it had done in the case of East Timor; the Security Council has as a matter of record  considered the situation in Jammu and Kashmir thrice in the past year ( after the long lapse of about 55 years), it must take appropriate enforcement actions and most importantly it must also take adequate positive steps to protect the Kashmiris from impending genocide by the fascist regime of India. For more than 72 years India has illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir against the wishes of the Kashmiri people in blatant violation of the UN Security Council resolutions.

Pakistani missions in foreign countries around the globe must pick up the thread where Imran Khan has left off, and continue pressing upon the international community through all possible means and resources for solutions of Kashmir and Palestine disputes in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions and the wishes of the people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir and Palestine, and urging them to take adequate stringent measures to discourage and curb the mounting threat of Islamophobia effectively and permanently.

PM Imran Khan, who calls himself as the Ambassador of Kashmiris and has been agitating and raising the Kashmir issue and thr oppressive and suppressive activities being meted out to the Kashmiri people in every form within the country and internationally, paying tributes to the Kashmiris said in his address that the brave Kashmiri people would never submit to Indian  occupation and oppression, their struggle is indigenous, they were fighting  for a just cause and laying down their lives generation after generation for getting rid of Indian occupation.

Reiterating Pakistan’s principled stance, he emphatically said that the government and the people of Pakistan were committed to standing by their Kashmiri brothers and sisters in their legitimate struggle for securing their fundamental right of self-determination in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.

He told the international community through his virtual address that Pakistan has always called for a peaceful solution of the lingering unresolved Kashmir issue, to this end India must rescind the measures it has taken since 5 August 2019, end its military siege and other gross human rights violations and agree to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and of course the wishes of the people of Kashmir.

 
As regards Palestine, he said that Palestine remains a festering wound, and a just and lasting settlement  is indispensable for the Middle East and in fact also the world at large, while illegal annexation of Palestinian territory, the building of illegal settlements and the imposition of inhuman living conditions on the Palestinians, especially in Gaza, cannot bring peace to a troubled region, adding that Pakistan continues to support a two-state solution in line with the UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions within the internationally agreed parameters, which were the restoration of the pre-1967 borders, and Al-Quds Sharif as the capital of a united, contiguous and independent state of Palestine.

Needless to mention here that the UN Security Council and the General Assembly are unable to implement their decades old resolutions to resolve the lingering and burning Kashmir and Palestine dispute because Kashmir issue pertains to a big country, India, which is flagrantly violating UN Security Council resolutions also in a big manner for decades together, and many countries around the globe have their trade and economic interests at stake, and Palestine dispute pertains to Israel which is illegitimate babe of the United States, which in recent months is exerting all pressures on Muslim countries to sign agreements of friendship with the Zionist state. The resolution in support of East Timor was implemented within a matter of few months as it involved a Muslim country, Indonesia.

As regards growing threat of Islamophopbia, PM Imran Khan quite rightly , appreciably and pointedly stated that the coronavirus pandemic was an opportunity to bring humanity together, but unfortunately instead it has fanned nationalism, increased global tensions and given rise to racial and religious hatred and violence against vulnerable minorities in several places, and these trends have also accentuated “Islamophobia”, and Muslims continue to be targeted with impunity in many countries. One country in the world today where the state sponsors Islamophobia is India, the reason behind this  is that the RSS ideology unfortunately rules India today.

Having said this, the Prime Minister urged the UN General Assembly to declare an “International  Day to Combat Islamophobia” and to build a coalition to fight this scourge that splits humanity rather than bring it together.

Prime Minister Imran Khan must be felicitated for highlighting all those issues and concerns which are source of concerns of problems and worries for the Muslims in particular and the international community in general in his address to the UN General Assembly.

Pakistani missions in foreign countries around the globe must pick up the thread where Imran Khan has left off, and continue pressing upon the international community through all possible means and resources for solutions of Kashmir and Palestine disputes in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions and the wishes of the people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir and Palestine, and urging them to take adequate stringent measures to discourage and curb the mounting threat of Islamophobia effectively and permanently.

The writer is Lahore-based Freelance Journalist, Columnist and retired Deputy Controller (News) , Radio Pakistan, Islamabad and can be reached at zahidriffat@gmail.com