Kashmir Commemoration Day. It remains one of the oldest disputes in the UN Security Council

Speech of MP Razi Nurullayev, chairperson of National Front Party. ADA University, Baku, Azerbaijan 

Dear Ambassador of Pakistan to Azerbaijan Bilal Hayee, the honorable Panel, Ladies and Gentlemen 

Today, we are gathered here to express our solidarity and moral and diplomatic support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their struggle for their inalienable right to decide for their own lives and future.

I have to confess that almost often we observe the sacrifices they are making by bearing dire conditions in which they survive. 

We all know that the people of Pakistan have a historical, cultural, and religious bond with the people of Kashmir. The region of Jammu and Kashmir is indeed an inalienable part of our brotherly Pakistan. 

The Jammu & Kashmir dispute is the unfinished agenda not only of Pakistan but also the whole world and it must be that. At the time of Pakistan’s independence, a conspiracy occurred against the people of Kashmir and the state of Pakistan. This conspiracy deprived the Muslim majority of the Kashmir region of joining Pakistan and led to the occupation of Indian forces on almost two third of Jammu and Kashmir. 

The people of Kashmir rose against the occupation and till today wage their historic struggle for being part of the nation they feel part of. 

I have to say that the Kashmir issue remains one of the oldest disputes in the UN Security Council. The decision taken by the UN Security Council to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir has never been realized due to India’s objection. Azerbaijan also suffered the injustice of the UN SC. Their four resolutions regarding the withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan had never been implemented. 

Azerbaijan did it itself and helped the UN to keep its face. Maybe one day the Kashmir people will also act and peacefully help the UN to keep its face. We are here in Azerbaijan against the conflicts and wish that this dispute gets resolved by peaceful means. Wars bring disaster and ruin not only to man-built buildings but also to millions of human lives. 

Kashmir people have been suffering for seven decades and continue their life hardships under daily threats. We know what means seventy years through which we went under the Soviet and thirty years under Armenian occupation of 20 percent of lands and around one million IDPs and refugees. 

100 years of hardships and suffering through which we went and now can feel and know the extent of the hardships that our brothers and sisters in Jammu and Kashmir go through. Seven decades is almost equal to the duration of a man’s life. This means that one is born into the hardships of life, and conflict and dies in the same circumstances. This is awful and unacceptable as many mothers have lost their loved ones, and countless blood has been spilled in this sacred land.

We Azerbaijani people and the state of Azerbaijan stand with Jammu and Kashmir people for the cause of their rights. Pakistan is our ally and strategic partner, a friendly nation. No, more than that. You love my flag, I love your flag, you grieve for my sadness, I grieve for yours. Because we’re brothers. 

I wish the brotherly Pakistani nation prosperity and peace.