United Nations, 05 August , 2026 (Kamran Raja): Pakistan has called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to take concrete steps toward implementing its resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir, marking the seventh anniversary of India’s unilateral and illegal actions of 5 August 2019. Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, delivered a letter from the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan to Ambassador Christina Markus Lassen, Permanent Representative of Denmark to the United Nations, in her capacity as President of the UN Security Council for the month of August. The letter states that India’s actions of 5 August 2019, which revoked the special constitutional status of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), were in violation of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, international law, and the Charter of the United Nations. It emphasizes that these measures sought to alter the internationally recognized disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir. The Deputy Prime Minister expressed concern over India’s continued efforts to change the demographic, political, and cultural character of IIOJK through amendments to domicile laws, land ownership regulations, electoral arrangements, and administrative structures. The letter notes that approximately 3.4 million domicile certificates have reportedly been issued to non-residents.

The communication also highlights the worsening human rights situation in the occupied territory, citing arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and the continued application of laws such as the Public Safety Act (PSA), Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The letter further raises concerns over the continued detention and persecution of prominent Kashmiri political leaders, including Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Yasin Malik, and Asiya Andrabi, along with journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders, and civil society activists. It also notes restrictions imposed on sixteen political organizations representing the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. Addressing religious freedom, the Deputy Prime Minister expressed concern over repeated restrictions on congregational prayers at Srinagar’s historic Jamia Masjid, increased monitoring of religious institutions, regulation and closure of seminaries, the takeover of 215 community-run schools, and concerns related to the implementation of the Waqf (Amendment) Act. The letter warns that India’s increasingly aggressive posture, inflammatory rhetoric, the deployment of an estimated 700,000 to 900,000 security personnel in IIOJK, and its unilateral decision to place the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance have heightened regional tensions and increased risks to peace and stability in South Asia.

Pakistan has urged the UN Security Council to implement its resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir by calling on India to reverse its unilateral actions of 5 August 2019, halt all measures aimed at altering the status and demographic composition of the occupied territory, respect the human rights of the Kashmiri people, and engage in a genuine dialogue to achieve a peaceful settlement in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions and the wishes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The Deputy Prime Minister also called upon the United Nations Secretary-General to actively use his good offices to facilitate a just, peaceful, and lasting resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in line with the UN Charter and Security Council resolutions, emphasizing that the unresolved dispute continues to pose a serious threat to regional and international peace and security.