PM says South Asia peace depends on Kashmir settlement
In his Jammu and Kashmir Black Day message, Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed Pakistan's support for the Kashmiri right to self-determination under UN resolutions.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said Pakistan's position on Jammu and Kashmir remains clear, consistent and principled, and that lasting peace and stability in South Asia cannot be achieved without a just and peaceful resolution of the dispute in line with United Nations Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
The statement was issued in a message on Jammu and Kashmir Black Day, which is observed on October 27. Business Recorder and the Associated Press of Pakistan both carried the text.
"On this Jammu & Kashmir Black Day, the Government and people of Pakistan reaffirm their unwavering solidarity with the people of IIOJK," the prime minister said, according to the reports. The term refers to the territory Pakistan's official statements describe as Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Sharif said Pakistan would continue to extend moral, diplomatic and political support to the Kashmiri people and would advocate their rights at every national and international forum.
The message recalled that 79 years ago Indian forces landed in Srinagar, which it described as the start of a chapter whose consequences still shape the region. Since then, it said, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been denied their inalienable right to self-determination as affirmed in the relevant Security Council resolutions.
The prime minister's message did not announce any new diplomatic initiative, and neither report described other official events planned for the observance.
Jammu and Kashmir remains one of the oldest items on the Security Council's agenda, and Pakistan has for decades tied its calls for a settlement to the resolutions adopted on the dispute. Islamabad has repeatedly asked the United Nations to move from resolutions to implementation, a demand it has renewed at the General Assembly in recent sessions.
Black Day is marked in Pakistan and in Azad Kashmir on October 27 each year. The date is tied to the arrival of Indian troops in Srinagar in 1947, which the prime minister's message cited as the origin of the dispute.
Successive governments have used the occasion to restate Pakistan's formal position rather than to announce policy shifts, and Sharif's message on this occasion followed that pattern, restating support for a settlement acceptable to the people of the territory.
The reports did not say whether the prime minister would attend any ceremony marking the day, or whether the government planned to raise the issue at the United Nations or in other forums in the coming weeks.
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