APHC, Kashmiri diaspora welcome UNGA speech of Imran Khan
ISLAMABAD – Top international law experts and Kashmiri activists believe that the legal points raised by Prime Minister Imran Khan during his second speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has opened a new opportunity to take up war crimes committed by Indian occupational forces at the International Criminal Court (ICC), International Court of Justice (ICJ) and other legal forums and get them punished.
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, the Secretary General of World Kashmir Awareness Forum, told DiploMag that Prime Minister Khan’s intervention during the 75th session of the UN General Assembly was based on factual data on Kashmir.
“In particular, his warning to the world powers has been shared by other world leaders in the past, like President Nelson Mandela, President Putin and President Bill Clinton and others,” he said.
Fai said that Khan’s appeal to the UN to persuade India to agree to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people “is the true reflection of the desire and wishes of the people of Kashmir”.
“The people of Kashmir have made it clear that no solution will stand unless it carries the stamp of genuineness and rests convincingly on the principle of right if self-determination,” said Fai, a global Kashmiri diaspora leader.
Hassan Aslam Shad, Director Legal, CMS McKenna, one of the top 10 global international law firms, told this reporter that the PM has paved way for Pakistan’s ‘lawfare’ against India.
“Lawfare is the use of law as a weapon of war. Lawfare is achieving the same or better results as warfare but without firing a bullet. PM Khan’s speech was as brilliant reiteration of his UNGA address on 26 September 2019 where he opposed warfare and made a call for global peace. He has done the heavy lifting for us. Time for Pakistan is to up the ante through its lawfare,” he asserted.
When asked to explain, Hassan Aslam, who is the first person from the Muslim World to be offered paid internship for 6 months with the President of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, said that Khan’s speech was a ‘brilliant narration of events’.
“It gave a proper road map for Pakistan and prosperity of the Muslim Ummah. We now need to garner support of world community to refer an appropriately framed ‘Kashmir Question’ to ICJ for advisory opinion. We need to frame the question in a way that the right of self determination stands out as the remedy sought by Pakistan,” he maintained.
Hassan argued that Pakistan needs to accede fully or partially to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and make fascist Modi & co liable for their International crimes against Kashmiris and the crime of aggression like Balakot attack committed in Feb. 2019 against Pakistan. “It is time for us is to move and move fast.”
“We have to submit dossiers of crimes committed by India in Pakistan through proxies e.g. Kulbhushan Jadhav. FATF is India’s lawfare against Pakistan. After having passed the three FATF bills, Pakistan will be out of the gray list soon. It is time for us to wage our own counter lawfare against India. India is becoming a hub of terrorism (a major terrorist hub nabbed in Kerala) due to Modi’s nefarious policies. It is time to up the ante and take India to task,” he asserted.
He suggested Pakistan needs to use ‘Brand Imran Khan’ for soft power purposes across the globe.
“Khan’s name resonates in the world. We need to leverage his brand and goodwill and use that to soften the world’s stance towards Pakistan. Why wait any longer? Let’s help him in achieving his aspirations for Pakistan which is to make it a global power house,” he said.
“Develop Pakistan, in particular areas covering CPEC. I’m part of the Frontiers Corps South Balochistan Skills Development Program. We need to make the youth of Pakistan stand on their feet which will enable Pakistan to be fully independent and become the power house of the Muslim Ummah in line with PM Khan’s aspiration,” he said.
Nasir Qadri, lawyer and head of Legal Forum for Kashmir, said that to alert the world community on the possible genocide and gravity of conflict in Indian-occupied Kashmir, Prime Minister Khan has proved to be the ‘humanitarian leader of the world’.
“PM Khan’s stance on the war crimes, crime against humanity and pro-longed occupation of Kashmir are worth to be addressed by the UN Security Council to refer this dispute as advisory opinion to ICJ. Prime Minister’s speech has one important element which enunciated prosecution of war criminals who have been involved in war crimes and other heinous crimes in occupied Kashmir,” he said.
Qadri said that this decades-old conflict has taken toll on more than one lakh civilians, crimes perpetrated by Indian armed forces and paramilitary forces amount to war crimes.
“The office of the ICC prosecutor must initiate suo moto action against the Indian army officials and state establishment who are involved in such war crimes,” he said.
Ambassador Abdul Basit said Khan’s assertions at the UN were ‘all the right things’ on Kashmir and he did so forcefully.
“The government must now prepare a well thought out strategy to build pressure on both internal and external fronts. Without that there is no realistic possibility on settling the dispute as per aspirations of Kashmiris. This cannot happen unless we have an all-encompassing strategy,” he maintained.
Dr Waleed Hussain, a Kashmiri scholar, said that the speech of Prime Minister Imran Khan at UNGC is base-line and Kashmiris support it because it represented the sentiments of the Kashmiri people whose struggle is legitimate as per 11 UNCIP resolutions.
“We, Kashmiris caught under Indian occupation since decades, demand the legal connotation needs to be pushed as per article 1 to 4 of the international criminal court as the war crimes perpetuated by the Indian occupational forces under AFSPA in IIOJK. The AFSPA is legal cover to give a license to the Indian occupational forces to kill at will with impunity and they are now engaged in genocide of Kashmiris which is documented by UNCHR in 2017 and 2018 report,” he said.
Dr Waleed said the offence against the Kashmiris is a breach as per Geneva Convention in the context of the armed conflict.
“We Kashmir are caught under occupation demand an immediate cognizance by the International Criminal Court of the mass killings committed vg the Indian army. It has already been agreed on 15th December 2017 that the state parties had unanimously decided to extend the jurisdiction of the ICC over the crime of aggression which is at the highest degree in post 5th August,” he said.
“We demand that special turbinal needs to be established as per international law to book Mr Modi and the Officer Commanding of 15th Core stationed in Srinagar for committing War crimes against the people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” he concluded.
Kashmiris welcome PM’s valour, wise address at UNGA
All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) AJK Chapter Saturday welcomed and hailed the address of the Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying he took it as an opportunity to tell the world that Kashmir’s freedom was the writing on wall.
“PM Khan ventured UNGA for a just resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in line with the UNSC resolutions and the urges and aspirations of the 13 million Kashmiris fighting for the right of self-determination since the last century when India was partitioned and both India and Pakistan had assured the people of their support the political destiny of Jammu and Kashmir,” APHC AJK Convener Mustafa Muhammad Hussain Khateeb told DiploMag.
Once again, PM Khan has undauntedly raised international questions like Kashmir, Palestine, Islamophobia and situation of Indian Muslims and warned the West and India’s RSS regime that “India was playing a dangerous game against Pakistan and Kashmiris in such a nuclear environment”.
“The APHC thanks PM Imran Khan for urging and calling the UN that the Security Council must prevent a disastrous conflict and secure the implementation of its own resolutions on Kashmir as it did in the case of East Timor.”
In their statement of thanks to the PM Pakistan, APHC AJK hoped that the UN General Secretary would recommend necessary steps in this regard and the Prime Minister would initiate international campaign to achieve the right of self-determination and freedom for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Dr. Farhan Mujahid Chak, an associate Professor of Political Science at Qatar University, said Prime Minister Imran Khan’s hard-hitting and heartfelt speech further captivated an already enamoured Kashmiri populace, both inside the occupied territories and among the diaspora.
“With admirably purposeful eloquence and fearlessness he touched on new and innovative ways that Pakistan intends on raising the issue of war crimes against India’s Hindutva fascist government. But not just through lawfare and heightened internationalization, Pakistan’s principled approach is winning the hearts of minds of several world leaders, and this must continue,” he added.
Lord Nazir Ahmed, a member of UK Parliament, said that PM Khan has raised Kashmir issue at UNGA for second consecutive year.
“He uses clear and vivid terminologies on Kashmir which is well taken by the world community. This is historic session of the UNGA as Turkish official is heading it. Turkish President also raised Kashmir issue. Today we saw media reports that certain Indian banks were involved in money laundering. The world bodies like FATF should immediately launch an investigation into the report and bring the facts to the fore,” he concluded.
