Peace In South Asia Can Be Achieved Through Resolution Of Jammu And Kashmir Dispute: Envoy

Pakistan's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Dr. Shahid Ahmad Hasmat has stated that peace in South Asian region can only be achieved through peaceful resolution of all issues including the lingering Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Oct, 2018 ) :Pakistan's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Dr. Shahid Ahmad Hasmat has stated that peace in South Asian region can only be achieved through peaceful resolution of all issues including the lingering Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

The South Asian region needed peace for allowing economic progress and socio-economic development to improve the quality of life of citizens of all countries, he added.

The High Commissioner expressed these views while speaking at a seminar arranged by the Kashmir Study Forum, Sri Lanka on "Resolution of Kashmir Dispute under United Nation's Auspices" held at Galadari Hotel in Colombo, a message received here from Colombo on Tuesday said. Dr. Shahid Ahmad Hasmat briefed the audience about the history of Kashmir issue and said that Kashmir remained the oldest unresolved conflict in the world.

He said the persistence of the issue caused grave human rights violations including killings, arbitrary arrests, and other crimes against humanity being committed by the occupation forces.

The High Commissioner highlighted that the UN Security Council resolutions provide for holding of a fair and impartial plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir under UN auspices to enable the Kashmiri people to exercise their right of self-determination and join either Pakistan or India.

The UN also deployed the United Nations Military Observer Group (UNMOGIP) to monitor the cease-fire line between the Azad Kashmir area and the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).

These resolutions were accepted by both India and Pakistan, however, all these efforts were thwarted by the Indian side to organize a plebiscite in Kashmir, he underscored.

Dr. Shahid Hashmat underlined that the recent report by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had also pointed out atrocities in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).

It demanded for immediate and effective steps to avoid a repetition of the numerous examples of excessive use of force by security forces in Kashmir.

OHCHR had recommended that a commission of inquiry should be established to conduct a comprehensive independent international investigation into allegations of human rights violations in Kashmir, he added.