Speaking during the sitting of joint session of Parliament, Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a wrong decision by revoking Article 370 and 35A in Occupied Kashmir.

The Parliament was debating the illegal and coercive attempt by India to alter the disputed status of Occupied Kashmir and other regressive measures to change its demographic structure through repeal and revocation of Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution.

India’s move would unleash a new movement in Kashmir, Sheikh Rashid said, adding Modi did not give a single ticket to a Muslim in the general elections and allocated all the seats to 303 Hindus. Modi created a situation similar to what was done by Israel, he added.

He said he could foresee worsening situation in India.

He said laws similar to Article 370 were in force in other Indian states but Modi government made a constitutional change only in Occupied Kashmir.

Sheikh Rashid said Kashmiri struggle would go ahead as Modi had ended all options for talks on Kashmir as he was only interested in creating hegemony of India.

The step by India had effectively ended the Shimla agreement and Line of Control was no more in existence, he explained.

He said China had given a message to India on Ladakh, adding Israel and India were working together on a plan.

The minister said Pakistan should take its case on Kashmir to United Nations.

He was of the view that Modi would act against Muslims in the coming months and feared that Modi could launch attack on the Line of Control (LoC).

Minister for Science and Technology Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said the Opposition should strengthen the hands of government. “We do not want war but if the time comes, every Pakistani will fight.”

He said Pakistan should end its diplomatic relations with India, adding when there was no diplomacy going on between the two countries, then why they were spending money on diplomatic missions.

He agreed that India was trying to change demography of Occupied Kashmir.

The international community should realize its responsibility as effects of a war between India and Pakistan would be felt in other capitals of the world, he added.

Pakistan People's Party leader Asif Ali Zardari said PPP was formed on the issue on Kashmir. He said after war of 1971, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto held dialogue with Indira Gandhi at a time when India had held thousands of Pakistani prisoners and was occupying our land.

He said Kashmiri leadership believed in the two-nation theory of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Pakistan was created so that Muslims could spend lives according to the teachings of Islam, he added.

He said India was closely watching the economic and political situation in Pakistan.

Zardari said Bhutto took back land from India, adding Syria still could not recover Golan Heights from Israel despite support of the Islamic countries.

“Kashmiris are being oppressed and we have to show solidarity with them.”

He said in the present situation, he would have gone to Russia, China, United Arab Emirates and other countries to seek support.

He told that during his tenure as President, he went to China and other countries multiple times to create goodwill for Pakistan.

He stressed that Pakistan would have to rekindle its relations with important countries.

He said Pakistanis were keenly aware of the fight waged by Kashmiris who even bury their dead in Pakistani flag. No house in Occupied Kashmir was without a martyr or a casualty, he added.

MNA Khawaja Asif said India did not respond to Pakistan’s call to engage in talks. Every Pakistani desired peace in Afghanistan and the government should take people of Pakistan into confidence over its policy for Kabul, he added.

He said India was following the policies adopted by Israel in Palestine.

He said that Pakistan was economically vulnerable and was asking for aid from other countries.

He said it looked that India would push Kashmiris on the Pakistani side across the Line of Control (Loc).

The nation should get united in view of the situation in Kashmir and aggression by India, he said, adding Pakistan would have to launch a diplomatic offensive and take along the Islamic countries and go for a long drawn diplomatic offensive.

Quaid e Azam had called Kashmir jugular vein of Pakistan, he recalled.

He said after 1989, 100,000 Kashmiris had been martyred in Occupied Kashmir. Asif said policy of appeasement with India would not work.

MNA Ghous Buksh Mehr said India had declared a war as it would be controlling water coming from Ladakh region to Pakistan.

He said in essence Shimla agreement had died, adding China, Russia and Turkey were natural allies of Pakistan and the government should take into confidence the friendly countries about the latest situation in Kashmir.

The legislator said elections in India were held on basis of anti-Pakistan rhetoric.

Senator Raza Rabbani in his speech said that India indicated early this year that Modi government would revoke Article 370 in Kashmir.

India would be moving towards ethnic cleansing, murder and genocide and Kashmir would be the new Gaza of the world and refugees would come to Pakistan, he predicted.

He said Pakistan would have to create a national narrative that India was denying the people of Kashmir the right to self determination.

The rights to people of Kashmir had been given under international laws and treaties were being violated, he added.

Rabbani said when Parliament would take the lead, then there could be a structural change in Pakistan’s foreign policy.

He said Pakistan should refuse to accept India as the policeman of the region and should look towards Asia instead of the west.

Sabir Kaimkhani said Kashmir was the unfinished agenda of partition and the region should have been made part of Pakistan. Kashmiris were laying down their lives for independence and they wanted to be part of Pakistan, he added.

Pakistan would refuse to accept hegemony of India which had expansionist designs, he said, adding Pakistan was an ideological Islamic country and it should strengthen itself and become powerful enough to even help other countries in need.

He said Pakistan should get support of Islamic countries and the United Nations in the prevailing situation.