Islamabad: (Parliament Times) President Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Masood Khan has said that Modi and BJP’s para-military arm RSS are committing heinous acts of terrorism in the Indian Occupied Kashmir.
“This carnage of Muslims, these acts of genocide must stop”, the President said while citing several instances of crimes against humanity being committed by the 700,000 occupation forces who had cordoned off the entire territory of IOK and were brutally murdering its citizens.
While addressing the 2nd Inter-Universities Speech Competition on “Human Right Violations in IOK and the role of the International Community”, organized by the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Cell here at Kashmir House, Islamabad the AJK president on the occasion commended the impassioned and substantive speeches of the contestants.
The AJK President said this should be an eye-opener to the Indian occupiers as the torch of freedom now is passed to the younger generation. The President said with this kind of commitment from the youth, he was sanguine that Kashmir would soon win freedom from Indian shackles.
President Masood Khan said that Kashmir is a historical issue because the entire territory of Jammu and Kashmir, by law and on the basis of kinship, faith and commerce, belongs to Pakistan. One part of that state, he said, was forcibly occupied by India and since 1947 it has been killing, torturing and incarcerating Kashmiris. “India has colonized IOK and made Kashmiris aliens in their own land”, the President said. He added that the Kashmir issue was also a geographical issue because Kashmiris, the key constituent of the Kashmir dispute, will decide who would have sovereignty over their territory.
Speaking of the atrocities in IOK, the President said that Modi’s government has adopted a policy of aggression and subjugation leading to the murder, maiming, illegal incarceration and forced evacuation of the Muslim population.
As it commits these horrendous crimes, the President said that India paints itself as a victim and demonizes Kashmiris as terrorists backed by Pakistan. “We want peace and amity; and we want to pursue dialogue and diplomacy; and India seeks a solution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute through state-terrorism and falsifications of the situation on the ground. India’s real face must be exposed to the international community”, Sardar Masood Khan said.
The President said that the only terrorism in IOK is the state terrorism being sponsored and executed by Delhi through the occupation forces in IOK. He said India’s appetite has not been satiated by these killings in IOK and is now targeting civilians across the LOC in Azad Kashmir. He cited a horrendous war crime in which the Indian soldiers recently blew off the hand of an infant in the lap of her mother and pierced her entire face with shrapnel. “This infant’s life is ruined forever because of Indian terrorism”, he said. India has also unleashed a third war – a combination of proxy war and subversion – against Pakistan in Balochistan, FATA, and Karachi and all major cities of Pakistan.
President Masood said that the eerie silence of the international community to these crimes is deplorable. The United Nations has totally failed its mandate by not resolving this 70-year issue, he said.
Castigating the international community’s inattention and double standards on Kashmir, the President Masood Khan called on the UN Security Council to not hide behind expediency and urged it to take cognizance of the precarious security situation in the IOK which was described by one of the student speakers as a “smoldering volcano”.
Directly addressing Mr Antonio Gutteres, the UN Secretary General, Sardar Masood Khan said that the Secretary General is a well-meaning person but he tends to eschew action on Kashmir on the premise of political correctness and an artificial balance between Pakistan and India. The Secretary General says, the President said, he would offer his good offices if India and Pakistan concur to such a role by him. The President asked why India would concur if it is the proven criminal, terrorist and the wrongdoer. It would do everything in its power to hide its crimes, he said.
President Masood Khan said that today the cause of Kashmir has become more compelling than the Palestinian cause because the latter gets more attention in the United Nations and the European Union, and Palestine has a seat in the UN, but the people of the Indian Occupied Kashmir have no representation and voice in the international forums. “The people of Azad Kashmir and IOK are fortunate that they can use the sovereign window of Pakistan to convey their concerns to the international community.
President Masood Khan also said that the Kashmir cause should become an Islamic cause because the Kashmiris are being killed for their identity as Muslims.
The President said that the unarmed civilians of Indian occupied Kashmir are neither militants nor criminals; but the criminality of the Indians has been established beyond a shadow of doubt. “Kashmir – the paradise on earth – is on fire and the international community must step forward to stop this fire before it gets out of control”, said Saddar Masood Khan.
In a clear and open message to the PDP government in IOK led by Mehbooba Mufti, the President of Azad Kashmir said that facilitation of the Indian armed forces and the para-military forces must end. “By facilitating these acts of terror, you (Mehbooba Mufti) are an abettor to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
President Azad Kashmir said that bilateral talks have been a farce leading to further delay in the resolution of the Kashmir issue. He said that from now on Pakistan should decline to talk to India on Kashmir bilaterally because India has closed all doors for dialogue and the weak process of dialogue in the past has been absolutely unproductive. “The road to Kashmir’s solution must pass through New York and the United Nations; not through Delhi”, he said.
Addressing the students, he urged them to use modern means of communication including the social media to garner support for the freedom movement and help highlight the war crimes taking place in IOK. He said that by using the #KashmirMatters trend all students must continue to tweet and post on the Kashmir issue.
The President praised Secretary Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Cell Muhammad Idrees Abbasi and his team for successfully organizing this mega event and raising awareness on this issue among the younger generation.
In the end of the event, the President presented the winning speakers with cash prizes and congratulated all the speakers on their outstanding performance.
The event was also attended by Conveners APHC Ghulam Muhammad Safi and Faiz Naqshbandi, as well as Brig. (R) Dr. Muhammad Khan and a large number of students from the public sector universities of AJK.
