UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN Maleeha Lodhi expressed her disapproval against India on Tuesday for the aggressive use of pellet guns fired on peaceful protestors in occupied Kashmir; she condemned the act as “first mass blinding in human history.” At the General Assembly’s Special Political and Decolonization (Fourth) Committee, Lodhi claimed that India is waging ‘war crimes’ against the young generation which have left them sightless and maimed for life. “This has been aptly described as the first mass blinding in human history”, said the Pakistani ambassador to the UN, as per an official press release. “This represents the most persistent failure of the United Nations”, Lodhi stated. She further added that since 70 years India has been preventing the Kashmiris from exercising their basic and absolute right to self-determination through ‘force and fraud.’ According to the press release, she said that the deployment of tens of thousands of Indian troops in the occupied territory is primarily aimed at sabotaging the legitimate freedom of the people. “India uses all methods from barbaric violence and extreme cruelty to fraudulent elections to deprive the Kashmiris of their right to self-determination and perpetuate its unlawful occupation”, she was quoted as saying. With utmost courage, dignity and conviction the people of Jammu and Kashmir will continue to wage the struggle for their right to self-determination, said the Pakistani envoy. Ambassador Lodhi asked the UN to retain its promise of holding a UN-supervised plebiscite in order ‘to enable the Kashmiris to determine their political destiny.’ She further went on to say that the continued existence of colonialism in any form was contrary to the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “The UN has a moral responsibility in this regard and we must all work toward eliminating the remaining vestiges of colonialism”, she said concluded.