ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said on Wednesday that Pakistan is facing unannounced international hybrid war by the elements who want to destabilise the country especially India but they are destined to fail.
Speaking at a seminar titled, 730 Days of Hell: Kashmir Under Siege, organised by a local think tank, he said that Kashmiris know how to sacrifice and the day is not far when their sacrifices will bear fruit. He said that there is no denying the fact that South Asia is a very important region and the important role of Pakistan in the region is a reality. He flayed the Indian government decision of barring five of its journalists an entry to Pakistan who were meant to cover August 5 poll to elect the AJK prime minister. The minister said that Prime Minister Imran Khan fought the case of Kashmir very courageously and he was supported by Turkey, Iran, and Malaysia.
He said that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has always been extending support to the just cause of Kashmir, adding India is trying to rise economically, socially and politically, but without resolving the issue of Kashmir, India’s dream will not materialise.
An official of the think tank highlighted the importance of the event and said that on August 5, 2019 India in a unilateral move revoked Article 370 and 35A. He said that the move brought with it a whole new level of atrocities against the Kashmiri people in the form of continuous curfew and an effort to change the demography of Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Ambassador Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhary said that in pursuit of Hindutva ideology and the desire to create a Hindu Rashtra, India decided to revoke Article 370 and 35A.
India also tried to divide the Gupkar alliance as no Kashmiri will ever accept attack on their identity, he said, adding in order to distract attention from the situation in Kashmir, India could resort to a false flag operation.
In a video message, Dr Yousef Al-Othaimeen, Secretary General of OIC said that the OIC always extended strong support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir in many decisions at the summit and resolutions at the ministerial meetings.
He said that these decisions and resolutions are an expression of the Islamic world’s solidarity with the Kashmiri people in their struggle for the right of self-determination.
Ambassador Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to OIC said that OIC is the only organisation that has a special envoy for Kashmir.
He said that the 48th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers is slated to be held in Pakistan next year.
Taking advantage of the occasion, Pakistan should come up with an action plan and look at the resolution 2334 of Security Council which on Palestine rejects the Israeli settlements on the occupied territories.
Such an acknowledgement by the Security Council on the Kashmir issue is necessary.
In a video message, Arif Hyder Ali, co-chair Dechert LLP International Arbitration and Public International Law Group, USA presented four legal options that included a claim before a Conciliation Commission pursuant to the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (the CERD Convention), second, a claim before the International Court of Justice (the “ICJ”) for violations of the Apartheid Convention, third, claims brought by a State partner of the Kashmiri people before the ICJ for discrete human rights violations in Kashmir based on the customary international law of human rights. Fourth option could be the possibility of international arbitration against India under a bilateral investment treaty.
Mushaal Mullick, the wife of jailed Kashmiri Hurriyat leader Muhammad Yasin Malik, said that after August 5, 2019, there was a lot more media coverage of the Kashmir dispute but later the focus shifted towards the fight against Covid-19.
Pre-August 5, 2019, she added, it was only Indian forces that were responsible for the misery of the Kashmiri people but now, Indian people are also snatching jobs and economic opportunities from the Kashmiri people.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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