Fatehgarh Sahib: Dal Khalsa hails the UN General Assembly (UNGA) committee resolution reaffirming that the universal realisation of people’s right of self-determination was a fundamental condition for the effective guarantee and observance of human rights.
Dal Khalsa and its allied group ‘Sikh Federation UK’ urge the UN Secretary General and the Human Rights Council to give special attention to the violations of human rights especially India’s denial of the right to self-determination.
According to UN report, the resolution sponsored by Pakistan and co-sponsored by 72 countries, was adopted without a vote in the 193-member Assembly’s Third Committee. It is said the resolution is expected to come up for General Assembly’s endorsement next month.
Dal Khalsa president Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema and spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh termed the development as a positive step as it gives a ray of hope to all the struggling peoples that aspire to be independent. Quoting the resolution that the right to self-determination is a fundamental principle of the United Nations Charter, they wonder whether the UN Secretary-General would be able to ensure its implementation in letter and spirit.
They said like the citizens of Quebec and Scotland, New Delhi should also give chance to people of Kashmir and Punjab to decide their destiny by holding referendum in both the Border States.
Appreciating the efforts of Pakistan in tabling the resolution, they said this resolution if endorsed in the General Assembly would give voice to the yearning for freedom in Asia and across the world.
They said Sikh and Kashmiri people cannot live securely without securing their self-determination and this was something they must struggle for, regardless of who supports them in the world.” They said both the Kashmiri and Sikh Diaspora had been and would remain pivotal in the struggle for self-determination.
They expressed enduring desire for the right to self-determination despite all the obstacles and hardships their people have faced in the last decades.