State-sponsored terrorism in IIOJK: Govt will take all steps to create awareness about atrocities: Kaira

ISLAMABAD: The government of Pakistan will take all possible steps locally and globally to create awareness about Indian state-sponsored terrorism against the people of Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

This was stated by the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, Qamar Zaman Kaira, while speaking at “Judicial Consultative Conference on Kashmir Issue - The Current Situation in IIOJK - Legal Options and Way Forward” organised by the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan at the Kashmir Council Secretariat on Thursday.

The adviser called for maximum awareness on internal and external fronts regarding different aspects of the Kashmir dispute. The minister said Pakistan has always been raising the issue on all international fora but today participants of the conference will give suggestions on how to legally pursue the issue.

He underscored the need to educate the young generation about the issue and said that for this purpose Kashmir centers or seats should be established in higher educational institutes.

He said that the present Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led coalition government raised the Kashmir dispute in every forum in a vigorous manner and will continue doing so. Kaira said that conflict might delay the solution of Kashmir but could not keep the Kashmiris subdued for a long time.

He said that the purpose of the Judicial Consultative Conference on the Kashmir dispute was to obtain legal guidance on the case of Kashmiris as the division of Kashmir remained an incomplete agenda of the Subcontinent. He said Pakistan was determined to resolve the Kashmir dispute but India continued to refuse to implement the resolutions of the United Nations.

He said India was trying to divert attention from the United Nations resolutions and the UN Convention. The recent amendments were another attempt to change the proportion of the population there to non-state residents, he added.

He said the right to vote was being given to Indian nationals and India was taking the lead from Israel's experience in Palestine. He said that the Hurriyat activists in Kashmir had kept this issue alive with their sacrifices. He said that the entire nation stood with Kashmiris.

He said that Pakistan People's Party was founded on the issue of Kashmir, freedom of Kashmir was, is and will remain our ultimate goal. Wherever Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari go they raise the Kashmir issue with the world leaders, he added.

He said that earlier the political leadership of Azad Kashmir was invited in which the current and former presidents and prime ministers were consulted. Now, for a legal opinion on it ex-judges and senior lawyers have been invited to further improve our understanding on this issue.

He said the suggestions coming from this conference will be forwarded to the Foreign Office and other relevant circles. He said that there was a need for dialogue in educational institutes and awareness among the youth about this major issue. He said that various steps were being taken to establish a Kashmir desk in the universities. It is our responsibility to make the next generation aware of the sensitivity of the Kashmir conflict, he added.

Former Chief Justice of Azad Kashmir Syed Manzoor Gilani said that the Kashmir issue could only be resolved diplomatically and for that political stability in Pakistan was necessary. Ex-chief justice Azam Khan said that the special status of Kashmir was abolished by the amendment of Article 370, which was condemnable.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022