Altaf Hamid Rao.
New York /MIRPUR ( AJK), (Parliament Times) : Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry has urged for OIC’s political, diplomatic clout to help resolve the Kashmir issue in line with the wishes and aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir state.
Addressing the Kashmir Contact Group meeting of the OIC through video link from Islamabad, the AJK President, while referring to the continued bloodshed and violence in the Indian-occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir, said that the unresolved dispute and massive troops’ concentration in the region posed a serious existential threat to Kashmiris in the IoK. He said that it was quite unfortunate that the dispute has been hanging around for the past 76 years.
He said that the presence of nine hundred thousand military and paramilitary forces in the occupied territory was one of the main causes and consequences of rights violations in the region.Appreciating the OIC’s continued support of the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination, the president said that the member states of OIC must play their due role to stop the bloodbath of innocent civilians in Kashmir.
He said that the people of Kashmir were grateful to the OIC secretary general and members of the Kashmir Contact Group for their invaluable support and assistance to Kashmiris.He lamented that, despite the Indian claims, the situation in the region has further deteriorated since the Modi government stripped the region of its special status on August 5, 2019.
Barrister Chaudhry further said that the Indian occupation army was using excessive force to suppress the Kashmiris Legitimate struggle for the right to self determination. He said that Indian occupation forces were using extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture and rape as weapons of war against the Kashmiris. Since 1989, he said, more than 96,000 Kashmiris have been martyred in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir by the Indian army.
“Thousands of Kashmiri political leaders, activists, lawyers and media persons have been arrested before and after 2019 by the occupying forces”, he said. He said that scores of Hurriyat leaders, including Yasin Malik, Shabir Shah, Musrat Alam Butt were detained illegally to enable complete silence in Kashmir.
He said that the Indian authorities’ bid to seek the death penalty for Yasin Malik was yet another malicious attempt to silence leading and legitimate Kashmiri voices. Barrister Chaudhry said that after abrogating Article 370 and 35-A, the BJP government had introduced a series of new laws that led to the erosion of Kashmiris’ identity and marginalization of the majority community.
Referring to issuance of domicile certificates to non-Kashmiris, he said, India was hell bent on changing the region’s demography by settling outsiders in the state.He said that unilateral actions the Modi government has taken since 5th August 2019 pose a serious threat to Kashmiris’ political, religious and cultural identity.
“All these illegal actions are in clear violation of international law, the 4th Geneva Convention”, the president said.Barrister Chaudhry said that it was high time that a commission of inquiry in light of the reports released by the United Nations Human Rights Commission in 2018 and 2019 should be constituted to investigate human rights violations taking place in Indian-occupied territory.
Meanwhile, the President Azad Kashmir Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry thanked the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for raising the issue of Kashmir during his landmark speech at the United Nations General Assembly.
