ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has urged India to stop bloodbath in the Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and allow holding of free and fair plebiscite under the auspices of United Nations.

He said for the last seven decades, India had denied the valiant people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IoK), the right to self-determination promised to them by the international community through numerous UN Security Council Resolutions.

"Pakistan calls upon the international community to raise its voice in seeking an end to the gross violations of human rights and the reign of terror unleashed by Indian occupation forces in IoK and fulfill the promises it made with the people of Jammu & Kashmir 70 years ago," he said in a message on the Kashmir Solidarity Day.

The Prime Minister said the people of Pakistan joined their Kashmiri brothers and sisters in observing "Kashmir Solidarity Day" to reaffirm our moral, diplomatic and political support to the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiri people for their basic human rights, especially the right to self-determination, enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions.

"I salute the sacrifices of brave and courageous Kashmiri people and reaffirm our firm commitment to Pakistan's principled stance on Jammu and Kashmir," he added.

He said the Jammu & Kashmir dispute was the unfinished agenda of Partition and remained one of the oldest disputes in the UN Security Council.

Pakistan strongly condemned the systemic state terrorism and brutal killings of the innocent people of IoK by Indian occupation forces, he added.

The Prime Minister said use of pellet guns had permanently blinded more than 150 people including women and young children.

"The basic human rights of the innocent people of IoK, including the right to life and peaceful assembly have been grossly violated by Indian occupation forces," he added.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said senior Hurriyat leadership has been arrested or placed under house detention. Within the last few months, around 12,000 people were illegally detained without any charges.

He noted that the valiant, resolute and determined people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir had rendered unmatched sacrifices in their just struggle.

However, all the Indian brutalities failed to deter the people of IoK from their cause for freedom from Indian subjugation, he added.

The Prime Minister said the people of Pakistan and the international community have utmost respect for the people of Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir for their unparalleled courage, bravery and persistence in facing the worst kind of state terrorism, human rights abuses, violence and suppression by the Indian state.

He noted that Jammu and Kashmir was the core dispute between Pakistan and India.

The dream of peace and prosperity of the people of this region would remain elusive without resolving this dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolutions, he added.

-APP