COPENHAGEN: Sardar Masood Khan, President Azad Jammu and Kashmir said that the Kashmir dispute suffers from inattention of the international community which has led to the unending suffering of the people of Kashmir.
The President, as the key note speaker, made these remarks while addressing the International Kashmir Conference organized by the Tehreek e Kashmir Denmark and Danish Pakistani Affairs Council at the Danish Parliament here in Copenhagen.
The conference was also attended by Zenia Stampe, member Danish Parliament, Syed Zulfiqar Gardezi, Ambassador of Pakistan to Denmark, Abdur Rasheed Turabi. Senior Member and Spokesperson of AJK Legislative Assembly, Ghulam Muhammad Safi, Convener All Parties Hurriyat Conference, senior members of the Tahreek e Kashmir and Danish Pakistani Affairs Council.
The President said that the people of Kashmir were facing egregious human rights crimes on a daily basis which had made their lives unbearable. Draconian laws like the Public Safety Act and Armed Forces Special Powers Act have been introduced in IOK which are not only discriminatory but also provided the occupation forces unbridled power in committing war crimes in the occupied territory, said President Masood Khan.
Masood Khan said that due to the inattention of the international community the plight of the people of Kashmir has gone unnoticed for the past seven decades. “Kashmiris are persecuted, young men are ruthlessly murdered, women are dishonored, civilians are blinded by pellet gun fire and their homes ransacked and destroyed on a daily basis”, said Masood Khan.
Speaking of the war crimes committed in IOK. The President said that now we can no longer look at this crisis only from the lens of a political standoff between two neighboring countries but as a humanitarian crisis of a global level. This, he said, was the largest pre-planned ethnic cleansing of human history in modern times.
The President said that India have denied the unarmed innocent Kashmiris their right to self-defense and instead demonized this indigenous freedom struggle as an act of terrorism and labelled the Kashmiris as traitors. “The Kashmiris are the most unarmed populace on the face of the earth and are leading a peaceful unarmed struggle for their right to self-determination which had been guaranteed to them through the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council”, said President Masood Khan.
Masood Khan said that IOK is the most heavily militarized territory of the world with over 700,000 actively deployed Indian army personnel, leading to an absurd and disproportionate ratio of one soldier for every twenty Kashmiris.
The President said that the international community is only being informed of a fraction of the atrocities and human rights violations due to an information blackout by India in IOK. Mass graves have been discovered, their demography is being transformed, thousands of people of have been illegally imprisoned and hundreds have been murdered in cold blood which is only the tip of the iceberg, he said.
The President said that by falsely claiming the matter as a bilateral issue, India has refused mediation in resolving the dispute. “This is not a bilateral matter, rather it is a quadrilateral one concerning Pakistan, India, the people of Kashmir and the United Nations”, reiterated the President. He said that it was impossible and illogical to exclude the people of Kashmir and the UN form the equation.
Urging the international community to take notice of the violations of the human rights in IOK, the President said that we cannot take a neutral stance in situations of injustice. The nations of the world must forgo its strategic and economic interests with India for the sake of humanity and pressurize India to come to the negotiation table for the early and peaceful resolution of the dispute, said the President of AJK.
President AJK said that it was due to the political, moral and diplomatic support of Pakistan that even after seventy years this issue is still discussed at international forums. The Government of Pakistan has been the only sovereign diplomatic window for the people of Kashmir, said President Masood Khan. He thanked the people of Pakistan for their untiring support and said the presence of Pakistan’s Ambassador to Denmark at this conference was a proof of their commitment towards the peaceful resolution of this dispute.
Addressing the Danish Parliamentarians, the President said that they should help in raising the profile of this issue at all international forums. He said that the Kashmir issue must be extensively and objectively debated upon in the parliaments of influential nations thus raising the matter in international forums like the UN Security Council, UN Human rights Council and the International Committee of Red Cross.
President Masood Khan expressed his gratitude to Ms. Zenia Stampe for her pivotal role in helping organize the conference and providing the Danish Parliament as the venue for the conference which displays the assurance and the commitment of the Danish people in defending basic human rights.
