Muzaffarabad: (Parliament Times) Sardar Masood Khan, President Azad Jammu and Kashmir, has said that war is not an option and Narendra Modi’s threats of using ‘mother of nuclear bombs’ to annihilate Pakistan is the most impulsive and reckless statement to be ever made by a person heading a nuclear nation.
The President made these remarks while interacting with the participants of the International Workshop on Leadership and Security, organized by the National Defense University, comprising of business executives, parliamentarians, diplomats, government officials and representatives of the global civil society and media, both from abroad and Pakistan. The foreign delegates included participants from the United Kingdom, United States of America, Russia, New Zealand, Brazil, Kenya, Malaysia, Ghana, Sri Lanka, UAE and Hong Kong. The delegation was led by Major General Asif Ali, Director General Institute for Strategic Studies, Research and Analysis (ISSRA)
Welcoming the participants to Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the President said that despite the small size of the territory, AJK has huge potential for growth and development. He said the AJK Government is focusing on three main goals; intensifying support to Kashmiris for attaining their right to self-determination; promoting good governance through accountability, rule of law and transparency; and sustainable economic development. We are trying to promote tourism, universal access to health, industry and education, he added.
The President said that the people of AJK are free to move around, there are no concertina wires, no barricades, no armed personnel roaming the streets and no instances of torture or rape being used as tools to terrorize the populace.
In comparison, he said, 900,000 Indian troops have been deployed in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The people of the IOJK have been imprisoned in their own homes as they face foreign occupation, alien domination and colonial rule. After the steps taken on August 5, the Kashmiri people have been subjected to inhumane conditions where young boys have been abducted and sent to the most notorious prison houses of northern India, he said. The National Federation of Indian Women has confirmed that 13000 boys have been abducted since August 5.
The AJK President told his audience that according to the ten stages of genocide defined by US-based Genocide Watch, Kashmir has now entered into stage 8. “Women are being molested and raped. Their bodies are being fetishized and objectified by the followers of the extremist Hindutva policy”, he said.
President Masood Khan said that Hindutva dictates dominance of Hindus in the Indian subcontinent by exterminating followers of all other religions. He added that India is altering the existing demography of the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK) and is narrating a false narrative of normalcy, but fortunately the international media and numerous world parliaments have not bought this argument and instead, it has presented the true picture of the grave situation in IOJK.
The President warned that any engagement between India and Pakistan even at a small scale can lead to a nuclear war which will have far-reaching global consequences that include massive refugee outflows, major climatic and health impacts, food scarcity and ultimately a global economic recession.
Recalling the statement made by UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres during his recent visit to Pakistan, the President said that the UN Secretary General had demanded that the people of IOJK may also be allowed to enjoy the civil liberties and fundamental rights enjoyed by the people of AJK. “This statement proves that the situation across the Line of Control remains highly concerning and precarious”, said the President.
The AJK President said that the free political will of the Kashmiris was crushed in 1947 when the territory was forcibly and illegally occupied by India. India, over the past seven decades has claimed IOJK as their territory but the alienation has only increased over the years. “Ultimately, it is the people of this territory who will decide their political future. This is a right recognized by the UN Security Council in its resolutions on Kashmir in which they have clearly identified Kashmiris as the third party to the dispute”, Masood Khan said.
The AJK President said that this is not a border dispute but rather it is a fight between humanity and inhumanity. World powers that remain tight-lipped have to take sides and cannot continue to sit on the fence, he said. The President thanked the international media for bringing forward a factual narrative on Kashmir and also the world parliaments and the US Congress for debating on the issue of Kashmir.
“World powers must not appease India and overlook the repression unleashed by it in IOJK. Similar appeasement of Hitler and Mussolini in the last century led to a devastating war leading to the deaths of millions. India’s malicious moves in IOJK are very real and the fallout too is very real”, Masood Khan said.
Responding to questions from the participant, the President said that the US President’s offers of mediation have not been heeded to by India as they falsely claim the territory an integral part of the Union. He added that as one of the most influential players in the international sphere, the US should help the oppressed people of IOJK by not siding with India when it comes to the brutalization of Kashmiris, nor look at the Kashmir dispute through the prism of its economic interests with India. He said that the US should stand with the oppressed and fully support the implementation of UN SC resolutions on Kashmir.
Commenting on the role of the diaspora community, the President said that the diaspora community in the UK, Europe and the USA are actively reaching out to their lawmakers, representatives, community leaders and media. They, he said, have helped raise the profile of the Kashmir issue.
The President while answering a query by one of the participants thanked the Russian Federation for the statement made by its delegate at the UN Security Council urging the resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions. He said think tanks in Russia were keen to invite representatives from AJK and the President urged that more space may be created for the Kashmiri people to help bring forward a factual narrative on Kashmir. He said that Russia too must not side with India when it comes to Kashmir as India is an oppressor and occupier.
Replying to a query posed by a participant, the President said that concerted efforts will be made to help create a bridge between African nations and Kashmir in order to help create awareness on Kashmir.
The President informed the visiting delegates that AJK is open to all, unlike IOJK. “We want to make AJK an engine of growth for not only Pakistan but also the region”, he said and added that AJK has the lowest crime rate, the highest literacy rate in all of Pakistan and with five public sector universities, scores of postgraduate colleges, three medical colleges, two Cadet Colleges, thousands of primary and secondary educational institutions is providing quality education to its people. “Our biggest asset is our human capital. We will change the destiny of not only ourselves but also of our brothers and sisters in IOJK”, he said
In his concluding remarks, the President said that the people of IOJK will attain freedom despite all odds. He said that the people of IOJK are demanding a just resolution of the dispute in accordance to the UN SC resolutions and wish to ascertain their free political will.
The President thanked the National Defence University for facilitating such a high level delegation to visit AJK and see for themselves the fundamental rights and civil liberties enjoyed by the people here in the liberated territory.