| Khizar Hayat Abbasi |
ISLAMABAD: Sardar Masood Khan, President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) has asked Israel to stay away from Kashmir and warned that any Israeli involvement in Kashmir would further exacerbate regional tensions.
“Israel is in the occupation of Palestinian lands and India is involved in the brutal suppression of Kashmiris’ legitimate struggle for their right to self-determination. The collaboration and mutual cooperation between them is comprehensible, he said.
The President made these remarks while addressing a seminar on Kashmir organized Pakistan Solidarity Council (Milli Yakjehti Council). The Seminar was also addressed by the leader of the opposition in Senate, Raja Zafarul Haq, acting chief of Jamaat Islami Pakistan, Liaqat Baluch, JUI-F leader and former Deputy Chairman Senate, Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Senator Professor Ibrahim Khan, APHC leader, Ghulam Muhammad Safi, Member of AJK Legislative Assembly (MLA), Abdul Rashid Turrabi, prominent journalist and anchorperson, Hamid Mir and other speakers.
Terming Kashmir dispute as a living reality, the AJK President said the world cannot overlook it for long. “India’s attempt to characterize the Kashmir’s struggle for self-determination as terrorism cannot stop the people of Kashmir from pursuing their just demand, President Khan added.
He maintained that peace and security in the region cannot be secured without peaceful resolution of Kashmir conflict on the basis of the principles of justice and fairness and in accordance with the wishes of Kashmiri people.
The AJK President said that both India and Pakistan should invest their resources in diplomacy, dialogues and negotiations as the two nuclear-capable countries cannot afford a persistent tension or war.
“The root cause of the Kashmir issue is the denial of the right to self-determination to the Kashmiri people,” Khan emphasised and added that warmongering is not in the interest of either India or Pakistan.
Rejecting any out of the box solution of the Kashmir dispute, President Masood Khan said there could be no acceptable resolution of the Kashmir dispute without taking the people of Kashmir on board. The people of Kashmir, he added, being a principal party to the dispute are inside the box and they need to be taken into confidence about their future.
Expressing serious concern over the imposition of the ban on Jamaat Islami in Indian Occupied Kashmir and closure of hundreds of schools being run by the party, the President said that closure of the welfare projects will jeopardize the educational future of the thousands of students.
Jamaat Islami, he said, is the most vibrant organization, known for its humanitarian work across the occupied territory. The ban on the party is an attack on the religious sentiments of Kashmiris
