Message of the Pakistan Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Defence

Message from Mr. Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, Caretaker Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, on ‘Kashmir Black Day’

 27 October 2023

Today marks the 76th anniversary of India’s occupation of the large parts of Jammu and Kashmir against the will of the Kashmiri people. On 27 October 1947, India landed its troops in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) for the first time. It continues to forcibly occupy this territory ever since.

In the last seventy-six years, India has tried different methods to perpetuate its illegal rule on Jammu and Kashmir. However, an intensified campaign to ‘Indianize’ Kashmir and transform Kashmiris into a disempowered community in their own land has been in full swing since 5 August 2019.

The Indian Occupation has taken a number of steps to realize these nefarious designs, including gerrymandering of the electoral constituencies, addition of non-Kashmiris to voter rolls, issuance of domicile certificates to outsiders, and introduction of new laws on ownership of land and property. These undemocratic and illegal measures are in direct contravention of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the Fourth Geneva Convention. 

Today, the IIOJK remains one of the most militarized regions of the world. The true representatives of the Kashmiri people have been arbitrarily detained for years. Media blackouts and censorship are being extensively imposed to conceal oppression and muzzle dissent. Thousands of innocent Kashmiri men, women and children have lost their lives at the hands of Indian brutality during the last three decades. India has, however, failed to subjugate the Kashmiri people. 

The latest developments in the Middle East have shown that the long-standing disputes should not be allowed to fester. Pushing them under the rug does not guarantee durable peace. Three successive generations of Kashmiris have waited for the world, especially the United Nations, to deliver on its promise to hold an impartial plebiscite. The world can no longer eschew its responsibility. It owes it to the Kashmiris. The international community must take practical steps to hold India accountable for its excesses in IIOJK.

The Indian Government must reverse the unilateral and illegal actions of 5th August 2019; stop its egregious human rights violations in IIOJK; and implement the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. 

Pakistan, as always, stands shoulder-to-shoulder with its Kashmiri brethren. It will continue to extend its full moral, diplomatic and political support to their just struggle for realization of their inalienable right to self-determination.

Address of the Pakistan Caretaker Prime Minister at Xinjiang University, Urumqi

Urumqi: 20 October, 2023

During his ongoing visit to China, Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has arrived in Urumqi, Xinjiang Autonomous Region. 

Today, the Prime Minister visited Xinjiang University where he was welcomed by President of Xinjiang University, Yao Qiang and members of the academia. He addressed a large gathering of notable scholars, researchers, academics, faculty members and students. 

In his address, the Prime Minister underscored that his visit to Xinjiang represented a milestone in the enduring relationship between Pakistan and China. He also reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to further strengthening Pakistan-China All Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership for mutual peace, prosperity and development.

Prime Minister Kakar lauded the strategic significance of Xinjiang as a frontier of CPEC and noted the region’s historical role as a hub of connectivity as part of the ancient Silk Road. 

Noting the cultural and historical linkages between Xinjiang and Gilgit-Baltistan, the Prime Minister shared Pakistan’s interest in partnering with Xinjiang in promoting connectivity in terms of infrastructure development, economic synergy, trade and investment, agriculture, educational exchanges, science and technology, and people-to-people exchanges. 

Highlighting the significance of educational linkages and the critical role of students in taking forward the relations between countries and peoples, the Prime Minister expressed high hopes in the youth of Pakistan and China to act as a bridge of friendship and brotherhood in the years to come.

The Prime Minister also visited the History Museum of Xinjiang University where he was briefed with regard to the history of the 99 year old Xinjiang University. 

Mr. Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar-Prime Minister (Caretaker) of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Mr. Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar took oath of office as the 8th caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan on 14th August 2023. He was elected as an independent senator from Balochistan province for a tenure of March 2018 to March 2024. He is also one of the founding members of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and was appointed as the central spokesperson of the party in 2018. While serving as Senator, he was the chairman of Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development and as a member of the Business Advisory Committee, Finance and Revenue, Foreign Affairs, and Science and Technology. Earlier, he served as spokesman for the government of Balochistan from December 2015 to January 2018.

An avid intellectual, with keen insight on the issues faced by Pakistan, particularly Balochistan province, Mr. Kakar has been sharing his perspective at academic and policy making platforms, both nationally and internationally. These include interactions with students and faculty members at Pakistan’s top-ranking universities, closed door sessions with the country’s policy makers, briefings to the country’s political and military elite, sessions on building the Balochistan narrative with the diplomatic corps based in Islamabad, as well as a significant number of nationally televised political talk shows.

Born in 1971, he hails from Muslim Bagh, QIlla Saifullah district of Balochistan. Mr. Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar holds a Master’s degree in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Balochistan. He is an alumnus of the prestigious National Security Workshop from the National Defence University, Islamabad. He is also Patron-in-Chief of the Voice of Balochistan, an independent perception building initiative he masterminded. Mr. Kakar is fluent in English, Urdu, Persian,

Kashmir Dispute-Version of Pakistan Govt

Source: AJ&K Government

Kashmir, the oldest dispute at the UN Agenda:

The Kashmir dispute is the oldest unresolved international conflict in the world today. Pakistan considers Kashmir as its core political dispute with India. So does the international community, except India. India’s forcible occupation of the State of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 is the main cause of the dispute. India claims to have ‘signed’ a controversial document, the Instrument of Accession, on 26 October 1947 with the Maharaja of Kashmir, in which the Maharaja obtained India’s military help against popular insurgency. The people of Kashmir and Pakistan do not accept the Indian claim. There are doubts about the very existence of the Instrument of Accession. The United Nations also does not consider Indian claim as legally valid: it recognizes Kashmir as a disputed territory. With the exception of India, the entire world community recognizes Kashmir as a disputed territory.

The fact is that all the principles on the basis of which the Indian subcontinent was partitioned by the British in 1947 justify Kashmir becoming a part of Pakistan: the State had majority Muslim population, and it not only enjoyed geographical proximity with Pakistan but also had essential economic linkages with the territories constituting Pakistan.

History of the dispute:

The State of Jammu and Kashmir has historically remained independent, except in the anarchical conditions of the late 18th and first half of the 19th century, or when incorporated in the vast empires set up by the Mauryas (3rd century BC), the Mughals (16th to 18th century) and the British (mid-19th to mid-20th century). All these empires included not only present-day India and Pakistan but some other countries of the region as well. Until 1846, Kashmir was part of the Sikh empire. In that year, the British defeated the Sikhs and sold Kashmir to Gulab Singh of Jammu for Rs. 7.5 million under the Treaty of Amritsar.

Gulab Singh, the Mahraja, signed a separate treaty with the British which gave him the status of an independent princely ruler of Kashmir. Gulab Singh died in 1857 and was replaced by Rambir Singh (1857-1885). Two other Marajas, Partab Singh (1885-1925) and Hari Singh (1925-1949) ruled in succession. Gulab Singh and his successors ruled Kashmir in a tyrannical and repressive way.

The people of Kashmir, nearly 80 per cent of who were Muslims, rose against Maharaja Hari Singh’s rule. He ruthlessly crushed a mass uprising in 1931. In 1932, Sheikh Abdullah formed Kashmir’s first political party—the All Jammu & Kashmir Muslim Conference (renamed as National Conference in 1939).

In 1934, the Maharaja gave way and allowed limited democracy in the form of a Legislative Assembly. However, unease with the Maharaja’s rule continued. According to the instruments of partition of India, the rulers of princely states were given the choice to freely accede to either India or Pakistan, or to remain independent. They were, however, advised to accede to the contiguous dominion, taking into consideration the geographical and ethnic issues. In Kashmir, however, the Maharaja hesitated. The principally Muslim population, having seen the early and covert arrival of Indian troops, rebelled and things got out of the Maharaja’s hands.

The people of Kashmir were demanding to join Pakistan. The Maharaja, fearing tribal warfare, eventually gave way to the Indian pressure and agreed to join India by, as India claims, ‘signing’ the controversial Instrument of Accession on 26 October 1947.

Kashmir was provisionally accepted into the Indian Union pending a free and impartial plebiscite. This was spelled out in a letter from the Governor General of India, Lord Mountbatten, to the Maharaja on 27 October 1947. In the letter, accepting the accession, Mountbatten made it clear that the State would only be incorporated into the Indian Union after a reference had been made to the people of Kashmir. Having accepted the principle of a plebiscite, India has since obstructed all attempts at holding a plebiscite. In 1947, India and Pakistan went to war over Kashmir. During the war, it was India which first took the Kashmir dispute to the United Nations on 1 January 1948.

The following year, on 1 January 1949, the UN helped enforce ceasefire between the two countries. The ceasefire line is called the Line of Control. It was an outcome of a mutual consent by India and Pakistan that the UN Security Council (UNSC) and UN Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) passed several resolutions in years following the 1947-48 war. The UNSC Resolution of 21 April 1948–one of the principal UN resolutions on Kashmir—stated that “both India and Pakistan desire that the question of the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan should be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite”. Subsequent UNSC Resolutions reiterated the same stand. UNCIP Resolutions of 3 August 1948 and 5 January 1949 reinforced UNSC resolutions.

KASHMIR ISSUE IN A NUTSHELL:

The current agitation in Indian-Held Kashmir is rooted in the struggle of the people for the exercise of the right of self-determination. Peaceful processions chanting demands for freedom were fired upon by Indian Army and police. Thousands of men, women and children have been killed or wounded.New Delhi’s allegation of assistance to the Kashmiri people from the Pakistan side is unfounded. Objective reports in foreign media testify that the Kashmiri agitation is indigenous.

Pakistan upholds the right of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to self-determination in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council. These resolutions of 1948 and 1949 provide for the holding of a free and impartial plebiscite for the determination of the future of the state by the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

The basic points about the UN resolution are that:The complaint relating to Kashmir was initiated by India in the Security Council;

The Council explicitly and by implications, rejected India’s claim that Kashmir is legally Indian territory;
The resolutions established self-determination as the governing principal for the settlement of the Kashmir dispute. This is the world body’s commitment to the people of Kashmir;

The resolutions endorsed a binding agreement between India and Pakistan reached through the mediation of UNCIP, that a plebiscite would be held, under agreed and specified conditions.

The Security Council has rejected the Indian contention that the people of Kashmir have exercised their right of self-determination by participating in the “election” which India has from time to time organized in the Held Kashmir. The 0.2% turn out during the 1989 “elections” was the most recent clear repudiation of the Indian claim.

Pakistan continues to adhere to the UN resolutions. These are binding also on India.

The Simla Agreement of 2 July 1972, to which Pakistan also continues to adhere, did not alter the status of Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory:

Para 6 of the Agreement lists “a final settlement of Jammu and Kashmir” as one of the outstanding questions awaiting a settlement.
Para 4 (ii) talks of a “Line of Control” as distinguished from an international border. Furthermore, it explicitly protects “the recognized position of either side.” The recognized position of Pakistan is the one, which is recognized by the United Nations and the World Community in general.
Article 1(iv) obviously refers to the Kashmir issue when it talks of “the basic issues and causes of conflict which have bedeviled the relations between the two countries for the last 25 years”

Pakistan Supreme Judicial Council – Press Release (27-Oct-2023)

The Supreme Judicial Council (‘the Council’) had last met on lih July, 2021, when Justice Guizar Ahmed was the Chief Justice of Pakistan, and since then more complaints have been received. Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Chief Justice of Pakistan, convened a meeting of the Council on 27th October, 2023 at 11.30 am, with the following agenda:

(1) To consider complaints which are ripe.

(2) Any other matter with the permission of the Chair.

The Council comprising of Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Chief Justice, next two senior Judges of the Supreme Court, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and two senior most Chief Justices of the High Courts, Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan considered twenty-nine complaints, out of which nineteen were dismissed, and it was decided to inform the Judges who were complained against, and the legal heirs of those who had passed.

The Council noted that frivolous complaints were filed by some lawyers who the Council decided to caution. Ten complaints were filed against Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi. The Council, by majority of three to two, decided to issue him show-cause notices, together with copies of the complaints, and to seek his reply within fourteen days of the receipt thereof, whereas the members in minority stated that they needed more time to consider the complaints against him.

One complaint was filed against a Judge of the Supreme Court who is a member of the Council. Accordingly, the Council was reconstituted by requesting Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, the next Judge in seniority in the Supreme Court, to take his seat on the Council on the recusal of Justice Ijaz UI Ahsan. This complaint was dismissed.

One complaint was filed by Ms. Amna Malik against Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, who requested that since she had made the complaint public, the Council should take it up and determine its veracity. Therefore, the Council was reconstituted by requesting Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, the next Judge in seniority in the Supreme Court, to take his seat on the Council on the recusal of Justice Sardar Tariq Masood.

The Council considered the complaint but found that requisite material was not attached with it, therefore, the Council directed Ms. Amna Malik to produce material in support of her complaint, and upon its receipt the Secretary to provide it to Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, who may respond thereto. The Council also summoned Ms. Amna Malik to be present in the next meeting of the Council, when Justice Sardar Tariq Masood may also be present to give his point of view.

Since the Council is a separate constitutional body it discussed whether it would be appropriate to constitute a separate secretariat for it, with a full-time secretary and requisite staff. It was decided that the Registrar of the Supreme Court, who is acting as the Secretary of the Council, submit a working paper in this regard to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, who may amend or substitute it, which will then be circulated for consideration of the other members.

To stem speculation and in the interest of transparency, the Council directed the Secretary to issue a Press Release of the above.