The Kashmiri people’s struggle for self-determination is “more alive and resilient” now than ever before, and their desire for freedom cannot be extinguished by India’s continued repression, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram has said. “History attests that legitimate struggles for self-determination are always successful,” the ambassador said in a message issued on the occasion of the 89th anniversary of Kashmir Martyrs’ Day on Monday. The Day marks the killing of 22 Kashmiris outside the Srinagar Central Jail by the troops of Dogra Maharaja on July 13, 1931, during a revolt. In his message, Ambassador Akram recalled the past and ongoing Indian atrocities in Kashmir, and said, “The night of tyranny and despair, however long and intense it may be, is always followed by the exhilarating dawn of freedom. “The changing global and regional strategic scenario is accelerating the arrival of this long-awaited dawn for the Kashmiris. “The day is not far when the heroic Kashmiri people, with the support of Pakistan, other important countries, including China, and the world community, will ultimately triumph against Indian oppression and win their Azadi.” The Pakistani envoy said India’s “gross and consistent” human rights violations and atrocities were well documented in the two reports of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and denounced by the UN Secretary-General, Special Rapporteurs of the Human Rights Council, international human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, other NGOs, parliamentary bodies and the international media, as they call for New Delhi to “unlock” freedoms in Kashmir and end the reign of terror. “The legitimacy of the Kashmiri freedom struggle is also well recognized by the international community,” he said, pointing out that the inalienable right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir was embedded in the principles of the UN Charter, the UN’s human rights covenants and the fundamental tenets of international law. “This right was specifically promised to the people of Jammu and Kashmir by several resolutions of the UN Security Council and was accepted by Pakistan and India, by the UN and the international community.” The last UN General Assembly again unanimously adopted Pakistan’s resolution on the “universal realization of the right of peoples to self- determination”, recognizing that all those peoples whose right to self-determination has been recognized, have the right to struggle for their freedom by all means available, Ambassador Akram said. “The legitimacy of Kashmiris right to self-determination is also enshrined in General Assembly resolutions 2625 of 1970 and 1514 of 1960, which crystallized the status of the right to self-determination as a customary international law; and unequivocally stated that ‘all armed action or repressive measures of all kinds directed against dependent peoples shall cease in order to enable them to exercise peacefully and freely their right to freedom and self-determination’,” he said. “Under this widely accepted international framework, the recent illegal and unilateral actions by India to change the status of an internationally recognized disputed territory and annex it, or the regulations designed to change its demography, are ‘null and void’ and not recognized by the UN and the international community “. “The new ‘maps’ issued by India have been rejected by the United Nations and the world community.” Ambassador Akram said that the ongoing Indian atrocities in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir have also exposed the fascist nature of the Hindutva ideology, agenda and actions as also the emergence of Modi government as the largest and most pervasive purveyor of terrorism, utilizing it as a policy instrument against the Kashmiri people, against Pakistan and against its own Muslim population. “The recent spike in systematic violence and discrimination against Muslims in India, coupled with decades of oppression and atrocities in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, are all part of the ‘Hindutva’ agenda which seeks to eliminate the heritage of Islam from India through the destruction of Muslim shrines, monuments and to transform India’s Muslims into oppressed, second class citizens or cast them out into statelessness,” the message said. The events and tragedies of recent years, especially India’s illegal actions of August 5, 2019, have once again brought the Jammu and Kashmir dispute to the center of world attention. “After almost fifty years, Kashmir is again being actively considered in the UN Security Council. The Council’s meetings of August 15, 2019 and January 15, 2020 are the precursor to further consideration of the dispute by the Council. Other UN, OIC and international forums have also made strong pronouncements denouncing India’s brutal occupation and oppression in occupied Jammu and Kashmir”. “The international community increasingly acknowledges the legitimacy of the Kashmiris’ struggle for self-determination and Azadi”. “The United Nations, through statements of the Secretary General, has reiterated that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute can only be resolved in accordance with the UN Charter and the Security Council resolutions (prescribing a plebiscite under the auspices of the UN). Any other solution that does not respect the will of Kashmiri people and ignores their fundamental rights will not be acceptable to the Kashmiris and to the people of Pakistan.”