Masood Khan urges India to stop hurling threats at Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: (Parliament Times) President Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Sardar Masood Khan, has asked India to resolve Kashmir issue through peaceful means and abstain from creating jingoism by issuing irresponsible and provocative statements.
“Hurling threats at Pakistan and talking of war by Indian political and military leaders is tantamount to playing with fire,” President Masood Khan said while addressing a crowded news conference held at Kashmir House here on Monday.
Member of British House of Lords, Lord Nazir Ahmed was also present on the occasion.
“Pakistan and people of Kashmir want to resolve Kashmir issue through political and diplomatic means and by peacefully exercising their internationally recognized right to self-determination,” he emphasized.
Terming Pakistan’s offer of dialogues to India as an important opening to resolve lingering Kashmir issue, AJK President said the short-witted leadership of India lost this chance by not availing the proposition.
Describing people of Jammu and Kashmir as peace-loving, AJK President said India was responding the legitimate demand of the Kashmiris right to self-determination – a right guaranteed to them by UN Security Council Resolutions – with guns, bullets, deaths and destruction.
“India neither talks to Pakistan nor Kashmiris and is also creating hurdles for the United Nations and its Military Observer Group stationed in IOK. He said that inhumane atrocities, oppression and gross violation of human rights in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) and now open threats of war with Pakistan by Indian army chief has exposed India before the world.
Referring to the report by United Nations’ Human Rights Commission, President said it was an important development at global level as the report has once again acknowledged the legitimacy of Kashmiri people’s struggle for their right to self-determination and has comprehensively listed gross human rights violations taking place in IOK.
Terming the recent visit of the British Parliament’s All-Party Parliamentary Kashmir Group delegation headed by Labour MP Chris Leslie to AJK as another important milestone, President Sardar Masood Khan said that the visit will significantly highlight the abuses of human rights in Occupied Kashmir and will also provide the Parliamentarians firsthand knowledge on the complexities of the Kashmir issue.
He said an important international conference on Kashmir is going to be held at Brussels in the coming week; while the Human Rights Committee of the European Parliament is also working on a report to highlight the state of human rights in Kashmir. The report would be submitted to European Parliament in the months to come, he added.
He further said that Kashmiris would continue their struggle for freedom and would never surrender the right to self-determination despite the atrocities of the Indian occupation forces.
“Kashmiris will remain unyielding in their resolve in the face of the war imposed on them by the India and added that continued killing of non-combatant civilian in IOK and the use of sexual violence as an instrument of war clearly constitutes war crimes as it is a violation of international humanitarian law.
Speaking on the occasion, Lord Nazir Ahmed expressed his gratitude to President AJK for hosting the APPKG delegation and also for coming to the APPKG sessions to record his testimony on the human rights situation in IOK. Lord Nazir strongly condemned the provocative statements issued by the Indian government and the Indian army chief. He added that the statements come at a time when the Hindutva groups are pressurizing the Indian government and is raising tensions in Kashmir in order to divert attention from the human rights violations taking place in IOK. He assured his support to the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people and also vowed to continue raising the issue in the House of Lords.
Lord Nazir urged the UN Security Council to take note of the threatening statements issued by India and convene an emergency session in order to pacify the growing tensions in the region.
President AJK while responding to a question, said that the United Nations Military Observer Group for India and Pakistan must be given access in IOK and the reports must be highlighted and circulated amongst the UN Secretary General and the members of the Security Council.