ISLAMABAD, Aug 4 (APP):An event was organized at Pakistan Embassy Ankara to observe the fourth “Youm-e-Istehsal-e-Kashmir”. The day is observed throughout the world on 5 August every year as a somber memory of the heinous actions taken by India in August 2019 to perpetuate its illegal occupation of the Jammu and Kashmir region.
Turkish Member Parliament Burhan Kayaturk graced the occasion as a chief guest. In his remarks, he stated that despite demand from international community, India was denying Kashmiris of their legal right to self-determination. The right to self-determination was promised to the Kashmiri people by the United Nations and the Indian leadership itself, but still after seven decades the promise remained unfulfilled. In the just cause of freedom, Turkish nation will always keep standing shoulder to shoulder with their Kashmiri brethren, he added.
Message of Turkish Member Parliament Ali Sahin was also read out at the event, wherein he reaffirmed solidarity with Kashmiri brethren and emphasized on amicable solution to the Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions and aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
Referring to the resolution of Kashmir dispute, vital for sustainable peace and stability in South Asia, President Institute of Strategic Thinking (SDE), Gen Guray Alpar stated that international community should play its due role in putting an end to ongoing grave human rights abuses in IIOJK and holding of a fair and impartial plebiscite under auspices of the United nations as enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
Speaking on the occasion, Pakistan’s Charge d’ Affaires Abbas Sarwar Qureshi stated that, it was generally said that ‘might is right but it was time to reverse the order and say the right was might, and in the case of IIOJK, the martyrs who have laid their lives for freedom, thousands of raped women, orphaned children, abducted youth and people whose houses were under siege and subjugation for the last seventy- six years were the mightiest, as they were right in their demand for self-determination.
Qureshi highlighted that the occupying power India was of the view, that its actions of August 05 2019 would help it silence the Kashmiris struggle for freedom and peace, but it had blatantly failed. The Kashmiri struggle was alive, stronger than it was before August 05, 2019 and Kashmiris were more determined to get their legitimate right to self-determination, the right promised to Kashmiris by the United Nations, Pakistan and India.
While acknowledging Turkiye’s principled stance on Jammu and Kashmir dispute, Qureshi thanked President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his continued support to the Kashmir cause at international forums.
Qureshi also expressed satisfaction on the positive trajectory of Pakistan-Türkiye bilateral relations and underscored that the unique bond of brotherhood between the two countries will continue to grow stronger.
The event was attended by representatives of civil society, media, think tanks, and Kashmiris living in Ankara.
