Indian atrocities could not stop Kashmiris from getting right to self determination: Sardar Attique

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Sardar Attique Ahmed Friday said that the brutalities committed by Indian occupied forces could not deprive Kashmiris of their right to self determination.

The relations between Pakistan and Kashmiri people were natural that could not be sabotaged, he said while addressing a rally here organized by Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) to observe the Kashmir Hour.

He said that India had transformed the valley into a jail and crossed all the limits of atrocities.

Managing Director APP, Tariq Mahmood Khan, President Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) Afzal Butt, Hurriyat leader Altaf Butt, Secretary Islamabad Press Club Anwer Raza, President APP Employees Union Shehzad Ali Akber and a large number of employees of the organization participated in the rally.

Sardar Attique claimed that over 10,000 Kashmiris were arrested by the Indian forces after clamping curfew in the occupied valley, while Syed Ali Shah Gillani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Yaseen Malik and other Kashmiri leaders were already under detention.          He said that Indian atrocities, oppression and subjugations with Kashmiris were not new acts, but the recent brutalities in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) by Indian forces had exposed India’s dual face before the international community.

Sardar Attique said that Kashmiris had never wished to live with Indian people nor the would bow down before the occupied forces.

He expressed the hope that Kashmiris would see the independence soon, adding, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s announcement to express solidarity with Kashmiris was welcoming.

“Today the whole Pakistani nation is showing solidarity with Kashmiris and Kashmir is a part of Pakistan, and soon the whole valley will be a part of Pakistan,” he added.

Sardar Attique said the international community was well aware of the sensitivity of Kashmir issue and there was a dire need to take the dispute at international level.

He said the United Nations and other international organizations of human rights should play their due role for stopping the human rights violations in the IOK, so that the people of Kashmir could get rid of the atrocities and brutalities of the Indian forces.

Afzal Butt said that Pakistanis' hearts were beating with the hearts of Kashmiris and the Indian forces oppression in the valley was felt by every Pakistani child. “We will support the Kashmir cause till our last breath,” he added.

He urged the international human rights organisations and media to expose the Indian brutalities in the IOK so that the suppressed Kashmiris could be saved from any tragic incident.

Shehzad Ali Akber lauded the decision of Prime Minister Imran Khan to express solidarity with Kashmiris at every forum.

Secretary NPC Anwer Raza and President Rawalpindi Islamabad Union of Journalist (RIUJ) also addressed the rally and urged the international community to stop Indian forces' atrocities in the valley.    Meanwhile the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) Employees Union (Punjab) also  observed Kashmir Solidarity Hour in Lahore to express unity with the oppressed Kashmiris.        A rally was led by APP Punjab Union President Muhammad Naeem Khan Niazi from APP office to China Chowk. It was attended by a large number of journalists and staffers.

People from various walks of life joined the rally at China Chowk and raised slogans against Indian government for its forcible annexation of Jammu and Kashmir and human rights violations.

Union President Naeem Khan Niazi urged the international press to expose brutalities of the Indian forces against Kashmiris and called upon the United Nations to send human rights observers to the held Valley where Kashmiri men, women and children were being subjected to the worst kind of abuses.

The participants raised slogans against Narendra Modi and his anti-Muslim stance while the other speakers expressed the hope that freedom was the destiny of Kashmiris.