AJK President describes situation in IOK as grave human tragedy

Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJ&K) President Sardar Masood Khan on Saturday described the situation in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) as a "grave human tragedy" and emphasized the need for adopting a more proactive approach to highlight it at powerful global forums to save the Kashmiris from the brutal acts of the occupation forces.

"We need to sensitize international forums, global media as well as civil society and country's Diaspora about the situation in the IOK, in which the population is being marginalized and dehumanized, " Sardar Masood Khan stated during a visit to the Recorder House.

Editor of Business Recorder Wamiq Zuberi, Publisher Asif A. Zuberi and others received the President of AJ&K at the Recorder House. Sardar Masood spoke extensively on the Kashmir dispute particularly about the situation evolving after India's act of 5th August 2019 when the disputed territory was stripped of its special status in the Indian Constitution. He compared scrapping of Article 370 and 35A in the Indian Constitution related to the disputed region with Nuremberg laws of Nazi Germany and said that it opened the floodgates of Indian State-sponsored terrorism in the region.

The AJ&K President said the Indian action of 5th August 2019, though unleashed a reign of terror on the people of occupied area, yet it highlighted the Kashmir issue so much that had not been seen since 1957.

"Now our responsibility is to unveil the cruel face of India at the international forums by lobbying against its policies in occupied Kashmir vigorously," the President of AJ&K noted and believed that international coverage of situation in occupied Kashmir highlighted the gross violation of international law.

"Now we need to approach international forums like the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and other legal forums about human rights violation in occupied territory," he stressed.

He stressed that Pakistan should strive to lobby against Indian policies and convince the world to create an enabling environment for the resolution of Kashmir dispute for peace in the region.

Sardar Masood pointed out that a big dilemma of current situation in Occupied Kashmir is that it has been highlighted internationally, but the powerful decision-making forums like the UN's Security Council and capitals of the Western world have not taken up the issue as it should have been done.

He disclosed that he had told the UN Secretary-General during his recent visit to Pakistan that the UN was simply a "silent spectator" to what had been going on in Occupied Kashmir.

Replying to a query about reaching out to the Indian civil society to sensitize it about the human crisis in the occupied territory, the President of AJ&K pointed out that it was part of his six-point plan, which includes unity in the country, lobbying at global level, strengthening of Pakistani Diaspora, making Pakistan a strong nation and Azad Kashmir a strong state.

Sardar Masood urged that apart from diplomatic efforts to highlight the precarious situation in occupied Kashmir, the economic angle should also be added to "our endeavors to ask the international community, especially the global corporate world, whether their investments in a country like India could be justified, which is indulging in massive human rights violations in the disputed territory."

He suggested that newspapers like the Business Recorder should focus on this issue and highlight this perspective in its news and views to inform the world about demerits of investing in India, which is resorting to the worst kind of brutal actions in the occupied state.

Sardar Masood said that people of IOK are facing the wrath of fascist power where children are being killed, women being kidnapped and more than 13,000 young people have been put in jails to suppress the voices for self-determination.

The AJ&K President said that the "ballot box" is the solution to the Kashmir dispute to decide their fate when his views had been solicited about "out of box" solution for the dispute between India and Pakistan, abandoning their historical traditional stances.

Talking about his plans for AJ&K, Sardar Masood declared it to make the region a "hub of economic activities". He mentioned about the power projects in the region that helped to increase the electricity generation and pointed out that two stalled infrastructure projects, whose completion would boost the road connectivity of the region with Pakistan, particularly the KPK province.

He agreed to the suggestion to devise a strong policy to woo investors in the AJ&K.