Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday slammed the double standard of international media for not effectively highlighting the situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK) and the plight of over eight million people there who are forcefully confined to their homes. "The international media has a dual face. On one hand, it is giving massive coverage to protests in Hong Kong while on the other, it is silent on the highest order of tyranny going on in IoK," the PM said while addressing a gathering organized to show solidarity with the people of the Occupied Kashmir.
"This is highly condemnable. Kashmiris are being brutalized at the hands of Indian occupation forces in the worst possible way but the international media is silent. This is the height of anything. The international media needs to shun its dual-standard and should highlight the plight of the oppressed, the sooner the better," he said during the event which also saw the formation of a human chain in support of the Kashmir cause.
The PM said that youth in the IoK are being tortured to death, women are being raped and people are locked down in their homes for more than two months by the Indian military in the IoK. "More than eight million people, totally unarmed, non-violent and helpless, have no contact with the outside world. They are living in the worst conditions. Once the curfew ends and these people are out on the roads, the Indian military would not be able to suppress the tide of freedom. There would be a sea of people coming out with a decisive struggle to attain their independence. I can see the light of independence emanating from the dark phase the IoK is going currently through. This is a nightmare for extremist Narendra Modi and his terrorist cronies who would have never thought that the situation in IoK would slip out of their hands. This man has blood of thousands of Muslims on his hands," the PM said.
He further said the Modi government's move to get the autonomous status given to IoK abolished by the Indian parliament has added fuel to fire in the occupied valley. "Now, Modi is feeling the heat of his blunder but it's too late. He is realising that this would cost him and India dearly. Indian parliament's move to repeal Article 370 has laid the foundation of freedom in IoK and no one can stop it. This has to happen," Khan said.
Ties between the two South Asian neighbours, Pakistan and India, have been at the lowest ebb since August 5 this year when Indian parliament deprived the IoK of the special autonomous status it enjoyed for decades, with the repealing of Article 370.
Since then Pakistan has taken a number of initiatives to respond to this move including suspension of bilateral trade with India, expulsion of Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria, denial of Pakistan's air space to planes of Indian President Ram Nath Kovind and PM Modi, suspension of Samjhauta Express and Thar Express train services, and convening a joint session of the parliament against Indian parliament's repealing of Article 370, among other measures.
Last month, the PM slammed his Indian counterpart and his government for serious atrocities coupled with grave human rights violations in IoK in a hard-hitting speech delivered at UN General Assembly that has earned wide public applause in Pakistan.
Prior to this move, a consultative session of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on IoK in August, the first ever in the last 54 years, is also regarded as a success for Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood led the officers and officials of Foreign Office at a gathering in support of Kashmir cause where the participants also formed a human chain in solidarity with the people of Kashmir, on the Constitution Avenue. They were holding placards inscribed with "I am Kashmir too" slogans and holding flags of Kashmir and Pakistan.
Addressing the rally, the foreign secretary said that Foreign Office and Pakistan's missions abroad will continue to highlight the plight of Kashmiris through aggressive diplomacy till the realization of the right to self-determination to Kashmiri people. He said that Pakistan will continue its moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiris people. A large number of people from different walks of life attended the event.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019
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