Toronto: President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Sardar Masood Khan, while addressing a Kashmir Conference here has said that two years after the martyrdom of Burhan Wani, his legacy for the struggle for liberty and self-determination for the Occupied Kashmir lives on.
The President said this while addressing a huge gathering at the Kashmir Conference organized by the Kashmir Welfare Society and the Friends of Kashmir Committee which was attended by Canadians and members of the Pakistani and Kashmiri diaspora community.
The President said that Burhan Wani’s martyrdom had handed the baton of freedom struggle to the youth of Kashmir, a fact recognized by a recently released report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The conference was also addressed by Dr. Zafar Bangash, President of the Friends of Kashmir Committee, Ken Stone of Hamilton Coalition To End the War, Phil Taylor, a radio journalist, and Azrab Khan, President of Kashmir Welfare Society.
President Masood Khan said that in the initial phase of the deliberations of the Kashmir dispute in the UN Security Council, Canada’s General A.G.L. McNaughton, in his capacity as President of the Security Council, had played an active role in the resolution of the dispute and on 22 December 1949 had proposed an impartial plebiscite in the territory to determine the future of Jammu and Kashmir and settle this issue in accordance with the freely expressed will of its inhabitants
In the present phase, when horrendous gross and consistent human rights violations are being committed by Indian occupation troops, Kashmiris and Pakistanis hope that Canada will raise its voice in the international forums against Indian repression and speak up for a just, lasting and democratic solution of the dispute. It is evident that there can be no peace in the region without resolving the Kashmir dispute
Sardar Masood Khan said that it was the responsibility of the UN and countries like Canada to avert a major war over Kashmir, which is a grave and potent risk.
The President also urged the Kashmiri and Pakistani diaspora community to lobby with the parliament, government and the media on the issue of Kashmir and brief them about the content of the independent report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights that meticulously chronicles the crimes against humanity being committed by Indian troops in IOK.
The President said that despite India’s state terrorism and savage oppression, the people of Kashmir and Pakistan believe in peaceful means and would continue to urge resort to dialogue and diplomacy. “India should renounce the path of terrorism and violence and come back to diplomacy to resolve this issue within the political parameters defined by the UN Security Council Resolutions”, he said.
Ken Stone, in his remarks, said that occupation is a crime from Kashmir to Palestine. He condemned India’s continuing occupation of IOK and brutalization of the Kashmir people in its attempts to illegally integrate the Occupied Kashmir to the Indian State.
Phil Taylor said that human rights are indivisible. Hence, after discarding the cynicism and hypocrisy nations of the world should pay attention to the serious human rights situation in the IOK. He added that IOK had no legitimate electoral process with the presence of hundreds of thousands of occupation troops in IOK. He urged the Canadian Government and media to take notice of the UN report on Indian atrocities in IOK and asked Indian to reduce its troops in IOK so the Kashmiris right to the promised plebiscite could be exercised.
The Kashmir Conference also passed a resolution unanimously which calls on the UN to assume its responsibility to organize the Kashmir plebiscite under its supervision; and urges the UN to investigate all massacres, gang rapes, fake encounters, forced disappearances and willful blindings of the Kashmiris; and requests the Government of Canada o exert pressure on India to ensure its compliance with international obligations flowing from human rights and humanitarian and human rights law.
The resolution also calls on India to cease forthwith all human rights violation in IOK; calls on its government to allow UN/ independent investigations into the human rights situation in IOK; and calls on India to withdraw all its troops including armed constabulary from Jammu and Kashmir, particularly from cities, towns and villages, to enable resumption of normal life.
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