Time to move beyond rhetoric on Kashmir, hollow sloganeering yielded nothing: PM AJK

Altaf Hamid Rao,

Islamabad/MIRPUR (AJK), (Parliament Times) :Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan has said that time has come that the issue of Kashmir should be raised more vigorously at international level to expose India’s human rights abusing regime and its nefarious designs towards Kashmir.Addressing the All Parties Kashmir Conference hosted by Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs Qamar-ul-Zaman Kaira in Islamabad on Wednesday, the AJK PM while referring to decades’ long approach on Kashmir said that it was high time to move beyond rhetoric on Kashmir and devise a comprehensive mechanism to galvanize world support in favour of Kashmiris’ just cause. “Issuing statements, holding rallies and demonstrations for the past 70 years have caused no harm to India”, he said adding that there was a dire need to launch a diplomatic offensive at international level to counter Indian propaganda on Kashmir effectively. For this purpose, the PM said that Kashmir Desk should be set up in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so that the issue could be be highlighted at every forum.Referring to the Indian government’s dangerous designs in the region, the PM said that India was hell bent on changing the demography of the occupied Jammu and Kashmir by settling non-Kashmiris. He said that the Indian authorities have issued domiciles to over 1.2 million non-state subjects.He said that the Indian government led by Narendra Modi has been pedaling its so-called normalcy narrative to hoodwink the international community and create a cobweb of confusion around Kashmir. Similarly, he said that the Indian premier was capitalizing his Kashmir visit in which he had announced projects worth 20 thousand crore. The PM said that Kashmiris have rejected the offer and made it clear to the Indian PM that their struggle and sacrifices were not meant to seek investment and development packages from India.Kashmiris, he said, have rendered matchless sacrifices to achieve their cherished goal of freedom from India’s illegal occupation. Lauding the Hurriyat leaders’ role in championing the Kashmir cause, the PM said that Syed Ali Geelani, Shabir Shah, Yasin Malik, Mirwaiz have dedicated their entire lives for the Kashmir cause.The PM also denounced the Indian state terrorism in Kashmir and said that Indian had deployed over 900,000 military and paramilitary troops in IOK to crush Kashmiris’ legitimate struggle. Kashmiris, he said, were forced to live in a state of fear and insecurity. “No home is safe in Kashmir”, he said, adding that the trigger-happy Indian forces were operating without an inkling of accountability and media had no access to the crimes they have been committing against Kashmiri.Denouncing the life imprisonment of Front Chairman Muahhmad Yasin Malik, the PM said that Malik has been pursuing for a peaceful and political settlement of the Kashmir dispute for the past several decades. He is being punished for his political beliefs”, the PM said adding Malik’s unjust sentencing in a dubiously manifested and politically motivated case was a slap in the face to the United Nations and USA.He said that India was hell bent on silencing every voice in Kashmir. “After sentencing Yasin Malik, the Indian government will go after other Hurriyat leaders including Mirwaiz, Shabir Shah and others”.Terming Kashmiris’ ongoing freedom movement as a legitimate struggle, the PM said that as per the international covenants Kashmiris have every right to fight for their inalienable right the right to self-determination.The state of Pakistan, he said, was the center of hope for Kashmiri people and a strong and stable Pakistan was a greater guarantee for the liberation of the occupied Kashmir.