Indian atrocities: APHC-AJK urges Pakistani leadership to take joint stance

ISLAMABAD: Kashmiri leadership, while expressing disappointment over the ongoing situation in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IoK) has urged the political leadership of Pakistan to take joint stance against Indian atrocities against the Kashmiri people at all the global forums.

While speaking at an event here on Monday, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference Azad Jammu and Kashmir (APHC-AJK) chapter reiterated that the Kashmiri people would never give up their struggle, saying they would keep rendering sacrifices for a great cause and would not allow going waste.

The meeting urged the international human rights organizations to take note of the growing Indian state terrorism and human rights violations in the occupied territory. It rejected the shocking steps taken by India on August 5, 2019, through which the historical and geographical identity of Jammu and Kashmir has been erased, and an attempt is being made to change its demography in violation of international law.

The meeting appealed to the UN secretary general to fulfill his responsibilities in resolving the Kashmir dispute by implementing the Security Council Kashmir resolutions, so that the Kashmiris could exercise their right to self-determination. It reiterated the commitment of the Kashmiri people to take the liberation movement to its logical conclusion.

The event was attended by senior APHC leaders, Mohammad Hussain Khateeb, Syed Faiz Naqshbandi, Mohammad Farooq Rahmani, Syed Yusuf Naseem, Ishtiyaq Hameed, Abdul Majeed Mir, Sheikh Mohammad Yaqoob, Abdul Majeed Malik, Shamim Shawl, Engineer Mahmood, Mir Tahir Masood, Raja Shaheen, Zahid Safi, Advocate Pervez Ahmed, Manzoorul Haq Butt, Nazir Karnai, Mushtaq Ahmed Butt, Sheikh Abdul Mateen, Syed Ejaz Rahmani, Javed Iqbal Butt, Syed Manzoor Ahmed Shah, Muhammad Shafi Dar, Zahid Ashraf, Iqbal Baloch, and Imtiaz Wani, participated in the meeting.

Meanwhile, Chairman Kashmir Committee Shehryar Khan Afridi, while addressing a press conference here on Monday accused the leadership of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) of putting the Kashmir cause on the backburner. Afridi shared 10-year performance of his predecessor, Maulana Fazlur Rehman as chairman Kashmir Committee, and accused him of compromising the Kashmir cause for vested interests.

Flanked by APHC leader Nabila Irshad, Dr Wilayat Hussain and Dr Mujahid Gilani, Afridi said that during 10-year tenure as Kashmir Committee chairman, Maulana Fazlur Rehman spent Rs463 million against allocated Rs474 million but did nothing for the Kashmir cause. "During the past 10 years, the committee met only 24 times and 62 press releases were issued, hence, each press release cost Pakistani exchequer 7.6 million. Only one press release was issued in two months precisely," he added.

"Since taking office, Prime Minister Imran Khan vowed to act as Kashmir's ambassador and has taken the Kashmir issue out of the cold and made it the focus of UN General Assembly (UNGA) and global debate," he said. He said due to effective diplomacy, the Kashmir dispute was raised in the UNGA three times, after 55 years, which was unprecedented success in our foreign policy front.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020