Washington: Former Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Barrister Sultan Mehmood Choudhry, has said that the conflict in occupied Kashmir has acquired a new dimension as Kashmiri youth have taken the lead to press for their inalienable right to self-determination, a right guaranteed by the United Nations.
Barrister Sultan Mehmood Choudhry addressing a press conference in Washington said, “The youth has taken to streets, paralyzing the unlawful local administration. They have made it abundantly clear that there is no turning back – this is a do or die phase of the long struggle for “Azadi†(freedom) after decades of the oppressive Indian rule.â€
Barrister Sultan warned that the criminal silence of the world powers over gruesome human rights abuses by the occupation forces in occupied Kashmir had given New Delhi a virtual license to kill innocent Kashmiris.
Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, the Secretary General of World Kashmir Awareness Forum, on the occasion said that peace between India and Pakistan could help unlock another conflict with even higher stakes for the United States: the war in Afghanistan. “Indeed, a growing chorus of experts has begun arguing that the road to Kabul runs through Kashmir that the US will never stabilize the former without peace in the latter,†he said.
Dr Fai said it is high time that all the parties concerned – India, Pakistan and the Kashmiri leadership – sit together and chalk out a strategy for the sake of peace and stability in the south Asian region. “Because ultimately, the negotiations, not violence, is the only way to resolve the Kashmir conflict, and that Kashmiris cannot be excluded from the negotiating table if a peace process is to be serious, meaningful and result-oriented,†he added.
The event was arranged by Sardar Zulfiqar Roshan Khan, Irfan Tassaduq Khan and Sardar Zubair Khan.