Rawalpindi / Islamabad – October 26, 2026
Ayatollah Syed Sajid Ali Naqvi, Leader of the Shia Muslims in Pakistan, has stated that eight decades have passed, yet the people of Kashmir are still waiting for their fundamental rights. Srinagar and Gaza, he said, have become symbols of severe human suffering, while Kashmiris and Palestinians continue to pay the price for the weak policies of international powers and are denied their basic human rights. People are being displaced from their own lands and forced to live as refugees. He stressed that the failure to resolve the Kashmir and Palestine issues remains one of the most fundamental causes of instability and insecurity around the world.
He expressed these views in a message issued on October 27, observed as Kashmir Black Day, marking the entry of Indian forces into Kashmir in 1947 and their occupation of the territory without constitutional or legal justification.
Ayatollah Syed Sajid Ali Naqvi said that following the end of the Second World War, the international community established institutions such as the United Nations to steer the world toward peace and stability instead of destruction, and to replace the rule of force with the supremacy of constitutions, laws, and international charters. However, he regretted that eight decades after the establishment of the United Nations, the organization appears not only to have failed to achieve these objectives but also to have become weakened internationally and subservient to powerful imperialist interests.
He added that despite the passage of eight decades and profound changes around the world, Kashmiris and Palestinians continue to suffer under oppression and injustice and remain victims of the double standards of self-proclaimed international arbiters of justice. The rightful inhabitants of their own lands have been expelled, deprived of their homes, and turned into refugees. Meanwhile, international institutions invoke human rights, fundamental freedoms, development, and other principles, yet fail to adequately address the plight of these two oppressed regions, largely because major powers continue to support imperialist domination.
He questioned what forms of oppression had not been inflicted upon these peoples, observing that no strong condemnation has emerged from major countries or institutions against what he described as India’s claims to democracy or against the Israeli Zionist entity. Instead, he said, these powers have maintained their silence to protect their own interests.
Ayatollah Syed Sajid Ali Naqvi pointed out that the escalation of tensions, wars, and confrontations in South Asia and the Middle East is fundamentally linked to the unresolved Kashmir and Palestine issues. He said both have fallen victim to the double standards of international powers, while humanity continues to yearn for peace and stability.
