Special Correspondent: All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) Azad Jammu and Kashmir (APHC-AJK) chapter Convener Ghulam Muhammad Safi has welcomed the address by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif to the United Nations General Assembly.

Ghulam Muhammad Safi in a statement issued in Islamabad said that the prime minister effectively highlighted the Kashmir dispute, the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination and the situation in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir before the international community.

He said the prime minister clearly stated in his address that the Kashmiri people have been awaiting the fulfillment of the United Nations’ pledge for a free and impartial plebiscite for eight decades. He said the Prime Minister also mentioned the hardships faced by the Kashmiri people, including illegal occupation, arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, sexual violence, and collective punishment in occupied Kashmir. He also welcomed the prime minister’s stance that a fair and just resolution to the Kashmir dispute is essential to prevent South Asia from once again teetering on the brink of war.

Ghulam Muhammad Safi further said the Kashmir dispute is a long-pending dispute on the UN agenda, and relevant Security Council resolutions serve as a crucial international reference for its resolution. The United Nations should fulfill its responsibility and play an effective role in enabling the Kashmiri people to achieve their right to self-determination, he added.

He said the Kashmiri people are grateful to Pakistan for effectively articulating their sentiments on global forums. He emphasized the path to lasting peace, stability, and development in South Asia lies in a just and enduring resolution to the Kashmir dispute,

Meanwhile, APHC-AJK senior leader Syed Yousuf Naseem in a statement in Islamabad also welcomed the prime minister’s address to the UN General Assembly.

Paying tribute to the Prime Ministers of Pakistan and Türkiye, he noted that they had powerfully voiced the sentiments of the Kashmiri people. He asserted that the time has come for the United Nations and the international community to practically fulfill the pledges made to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and grant them their fundamental and birthright to self-determination.

He remarked that the massive military presence and draconian laws in occupied Jammu and Kashmir had severely impacted the daily lives of the Kashmiri people; therefore, the international community must take serious note of the human rights situation and play its role in achieving a just and sustainable resolution to the Kashmir dispute.