News / Pakistan

Activists at Islamabad rally demand UN-sponsored referendum in Kashmir

Tuesday, 05 January 2021 7:03 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 05 January 2021 7:03 PM ]

Supporters of the civil society group Jammu Kashmir Forum take part in a demonstration to mark The Right to Self-determination Day, in Islamabad, Pakistan, on January 5, 2020. (Photo by AP)

Kashmiri activists at a rally in Pakistan's capital have called on the United Nations (UN) to ensure Kashmir's right to self-determination by organizing a referendum across the disputed Himalayan region.

The participants at the rally in Islamabad on Tuesday demanded the world body to implement a decades-old resolution that called for the referendum on whether Kashmiris wanted to merge with Pakistan or India.

The activists chanted pro-independence slogans and urged the international community to take notice of the Indian human rights violations in the Muslim-majority region.

The UN Security Council resolution adopted on January 20, 1948 offered to assist in the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir conflict. Also on January 5, 1949, the UN Commission for India and Pakistan passed a resolution stipulating a UN-supervised referendum in the valley.

Kashmir became an issue in 1947 when the British Raj was dismantled and the subcontinent divided into two independent states, the Hindu-majority India and the Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Kashmir has been split between India and Pakistan since their partition in August 1947. Both countries claim all of Kashmir and have fought three wars over the territory.

The first war between them ended in 1948 with a UN-brokered ceasefire that left Kashmir divided. The promise of a UN-sponsored referendum on its "final disposition" has never been fulfilled.

India regularly accuses Pakistan of arming and training militants and allowing them to cross the restive frontier. Pakistan strongly denies the allegations and says it only provides moral and diplomatic support.

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