The UN Resolutions Only Give us a Right of Accession Dr Shabir Choudhry

 The UN Resolutions Only Give us a Right of Accession

Dr Shabir Choudhry

Delivered at the UKPNP Conference, Luton, England – 25 November 2025

 

We Live in an Occupied Territory**

 

Many distinguished speakers before me have rightly highlighted the denial of fundamental rights, the absence of basic facilities, and the political repression endured by the people living in the territory occupied by Pakistan. Others have discussed the right to self-determination—an issue frequently misunderstood or deliberately distorted. Today, I want to clarify what the United Nations actually promised the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and what it did not.

 

1. The Myth of the “Right to Self-Determination”

Let me make this absolutely clear, without fear or hesitation:

 

The people of Jammu and Kashmir were never granted a right to self-determination under the UN resolutions.

 

In the first UNCIP Resolution of 13 August 1948, the term used was “future status” of Jammu and Kashmir. That phrase—future status—by definition included three possibilities:

1.  Accession to Pakistan

2.  Accession to India

3.  Independence

In diplomatic language, “future status” allows for independence.

However, once Pakistan realised that “future status” could lead to an independent Jammu and Kashmir, they immediately objected. Consequently, Pakistan officially requested that the term “future status” be replaced with the limiting phrase:

“accession to Pakistan or accession to India.”

 

This Pakistani demand was accepted in the next UN Resolution on 5 January 1949.

 

Thus, because of Pakistan’s insistence, the UN no longer spoke about the “future status” of the State but restricted it to accession only.

 

2. Pakistan Blocked Independence at the United Nations

 

It is a painful historical truth that Pakistan—the country which calls itself our “advocate”, our “brother”, and our “defender”—was the one who eliminated the possibility of an independent Jammu and Kashmir at the UN.

 

Because of Pakistan’s intervention:

•  Independence was removed from the UN framework

•  The people of Jammu and Kashmir were offered only two options

     •  Accession to Pakistan

     •  Accession to India

This is not a matter of opinion. It is a historical fact recorded in UN documents.

3. My Stand: I Reject the Right of Accession

I want to say publicly and loudly:

I reject the right of accession.

 

My struggle has always been—and remains—for:

 

A united, independent, democratic, and secular State of Jammu and Kashmir.

 

I do not accept accession to Pakistan. I do not accept accession to India.

 

I accept only the sovereignty of my homeland.

 

4. Pakistan Offers Only One Option

 

The UN might offer two options, but Pakistan offers only one:

Join Pakistan.

 

If a Kashmiri demands democracy, secular governance, human rights, or national dignity, then immediately he is labelled:

•  Pro-India

•  Anti-Islam

•  Anti-Pakistan

•  A traitor

This is not an accident. It is a carefully engineered narrative created by the Pakistani establishment to incite ordinary people against Kashmiri nationalists.

This environment encourages hatred, violence, and in some cases, the killing of people who demand freedom and dignity. It is psychological warfare backed by religious manipulation.

5. UKPNP’s Clear and Consistent Position

 

The UKPNP stands firmly for:

•      A united and independent Jammu and Kashmir

•      A democratic and secular political system

•      Non-violence

•      Opposition to extremism and terrorism

·      Peaceful struggle

·      The state has no religion

·      Religion is a personal matter for citizens.

Regardless of what the foot soldiers of the occupiers claim, our ideals are rooted in peace, dignity, and national sovereignty.

6. Why Our Region Suffers: Because It Is Occupied

 

Speakers before me have talked about the terrible conditions of health, infrastructure, communication, education, and employment. Yes—these problems exist. But they are not random.

They are the direct consequence of Pakistan’s illegal occupation.

 

Consider the following realities:

•  Pakistan controls our Assembly.

•  Pakistan controls our budget.

•  Pakistan controls our bureaucracy.

•  Pakistan controls 25 key sectors of our economy.

•  Pakistan exploits our natural resources, especially hydropower and foreign remittances

In the hydropower sector alone, Pakistan extracts more than Rs 1 trillion per year from our rivers. Yet they spread the lie that “Pakistan feeds Azad Kashmir.”

No, we feed Pakistan.

Pakistan owes us billions.

7. Treason Factories and the Politics of Suppression

 

Soon after the creation of Pakistan, the military-bureaucratic establishment established what I call “treason factories”. Their purpose was to silence, discredit, and eliminate those who opposed Islamabad’s wrong policies.

 

These factories still operate today, controlling:

•  Politics

•  Religion

•  Media

•  Economy

•  Social life

•  Foreign policy

•  Defence policy

Their Kashmir policy has caused death, destruction, division, and unimaginable suffering. But they refuse to learn. They continue to export extremism and fabricate narratives through paid agents and local collaborators.

8. Our Struggle Is Where We Stand

 

My respected friend Sadiq Subhani rightly said:

 

    “Our struggle is on this side of the divide.”

 

We cannot liberate Jammu when we ourselves are shackled in Pakistani-occupied territory.

 

We cannot liberate Gilgit-Baltistan when we are denied basic rights in so-called “Azad” Kashmir.

 

However:

•  Jammu must fight against India’s occupation

•  The Valley must fight against Indian control

•  Ladakh must fight against the force that occupies it

•  Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan must fight against Pakistani occupation

We must coordinate, support one another, and work for a united goal, but each region must fight its own occupier.

 

9. Conclusion

 

The struggle for a united and independent Jammu and Kashmir is not only political—it is moral, legal, historical, and just. The UN did not give us the right to self-determination because Pakistan blocked it.

 

But no power can block the will of a nation determined to be free.

 

We demand:

•  Freedom

•  Dignity

•  Sovereignty

•  National unity

•  Human rights

•  An end to occupation

And no manufactured narrative, no establishment propaganda, and no treason factory will change this truth.

Thank you.