ISLAMABAD: The Senate passed a resolution to express solidarity with oppressed Kashmiris and urged India to end hostilities in Occupied Kashmir by reversing the actions it initiated on and after August 5, 2019.
Pakistan’s Senate held a special session on Friday, a day before the Kashmir Solidarity Day. Hindu Dalit Senator Krishna Kumari Kohli presided over the special session of the Senate.
“There can’t be a bigger slap on Modi’s face than this,” said Senator Krishna Kumari Kohli — also known as Kesho Bai. Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani specially invited Senator Krishna Kumari to chair the special session on Occupied Kashmir.
Senators warmly welcomed Krishna with desk-thumping as she assumed the chair. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Dr Babar Awan, who was speaking at the time, paused to acknowledge Senator Kohli when she took the seat.
In her hear-touching remarks, Senator Krishna Kumari Kohli said she wanted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to know that “this is the real face of Pakistan, which has allowed a Hindu member to preside over the Senate session.”
“We want Modi to know that he has had his way for long enough, we will not tolerate him for much longer,” she said.
Senator Kohli, who was elected in 2018 to a reserved seat on a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ticket, later tweeted: “It is great honour [that] I chaired the Senate session called to discuss the current situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) on the eve of Kashmir Solidarity Day.”
Resolution adopted
On Friday, the house unanimously adopted a resolution rejecting the “illegal and unilateral action” taken by India on August 5, 2019, and demanded that it revoke the step, calling it a “gross violation of all United Nations resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir”.
The resolution also condemned the unabated Indian human rights violations, war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law in IIOJK. “Ever since Aug 5, hundreds of innocent Kashmiris have been martyred, arbitrarily arrested or rounded up under trumped-up charges,” the resolution stated.
The Senate made it clear to India that even the worst state-sponsored terrorism would not break the spirit of the Kashmiri people, or crush their legitimate struggle.
The house demanded that Indian PM Narendra Modi and his “fascist RSS organisation” be held accountable for their crimes against humanity and called on the Indian government to stop extra-judicial killings of Kashmiris in fake encounters and cordon-and-search operations.
It also denounced illegal measures to change the demographic structure of the occupied territory, as well as “efforts to peddle a facade of normalcy” and demanded the immediate release of all political prisoners in IIOJK.
The Senate also asked the international community to take note of “India’s belligerence, intransigence and brazen persistence of cruelty against the Kashmiri people, including the danger of genocide which is now documented internationally”.
The resolution reassured the people of Kashmir that Pakistan’s government, people and parliament would always stand firm with them in their just struggle until it is resolved according to their wishes and as per the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
“The Senate of Pakistan reiterates its support to the people of Kashmir in the just struggle for their inalienable right to self-determination every step of the way,” the resolution said.
Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani ordered that copies of the signed resolution be dispatched to different world leaders and the UN secretary general.
