MUZAFFARABAD: The top political brass of the country, including Prime Minister Imran Khan, President Dr Arif Alvi and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood, on Friday paid tribute to the Kashmiri people for their valiant struggle despite unprecedented Indian brutalities in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) and asked the international community to hold India accountable for its actions.
President Alvi said that Pakistan would never compromise on Kashmir and warned India “not to play with fire” by changing the demography of the Muslim populated Valley.
“India is playing with fire by changing demographics of Jammu and Kashmir, with high risks of a situation leading to conflict and genocide,” the President told media during his visit to Muzaffarabad, where he addressed the special session of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly.
Alvi said that the resolution of the Kashmir dispute as per the pledges of the United Nations was the “only option” to ensure peace in South Asia and asked New Delhi to stop unabated acts of genocide and demographic changes in IOK.
“Pakistan has a clear message for India; Our relations cannot be improved without the resolution of Kashmir issue in accordance with the resolutions of UN Security Council,” the president said in his address.
AJK President Sardar Masood Khan, PM Raja Farooq Haider, and members of the Legislative Assembly attended the session held in the capital of Azad Kashmir.
The president said that India illegally inhabited 3.3 million people in Kashmir to change the demography of highly populated Muslim area.
“Even through this tactic India will [sic] fail to eliminate the passion and struggle of Kashmiris for their identity,” he said.
He also said that Pakistan would stand with their Kashmiri brethren in their just struggle and assured that every Pakistani supported them from their core of heart.
He dismissed any differences within Pakistan over the status of Kashmir, adding that there existed unanimity of stance.
Alvi said that Pakistan gave India a tough response to its attack on Balakot and stressed that “India must keep this in mind while undertaking such adventures”.
The president asked India to develop conditions that could lead to discussions on resolving the Kashmir dispute and urged the international bodies, including the UN to press upon India in this regard.
He lauded the UN Secretary-General for supporting Pakistan’s stance of demanding the right of self-determination for Kashmiris.
“This [Kashmir] is not a matter of territory, but the matter of principle,” he said, adding that Pakistan wanted to take the Kashmir dispute towards its logical end, but only in line with UNSC resolutions.
He mentioned that UNSC in its several resolutions had emphasized holding a free and fair plebiscite in Kashmir with a pledge made with Kashmiris to decide about their destiny in the shape of self-determination.
President Alvi said that Pakistan had always raised its voice against the atrocities faced by Kashmiris and also for the rights of Muslims living under difficult conditions in India.
He said that both the government and the opposition in Pakistan, setting aside their political differences, always held the same stance on Kashmir. “The ultimate direction in this regard is based on national unity.”
He vowed that any further steps with regard to Kashmir would be made in consultation with the stakeholders, particularly the people of Kashmir.
The president said that Pakistan at times asked India to hold discussions on all outstanding issues, including Kashmir. He, however, regretted that no positive response was received.
He recalled the offer of Prime Minister Imran that Pakistan was ready to take two steps forward if India came to the negotiation table and showed intent to resolve the longstanding issue.
He urged India to open its occupied territory for the international observers and media and let them monitor the ongoing worsening situation of human rights.
He said that the Kashmiri people had to face the horrendous acts of brutality by Indian security like the pellet gun attacks that left hundreds; including women and children, blind for a lifetime.
The Indian oppression, he said, was on the rise in the IOK as its forces were subjecting the youth to torture, illegal detentions, and fake encounters.
“These are the same indicators as of Hitler’s era, where the life was made miserable for an ethnic community by setting up genocide camps and inflicting upon them economic hardships,” he added.
President Alvi said that India was involved in carrying out terrorist activities inside Pakistan and also waged a continuous fake media war as recently exposed through the findings of EU-based DisInfoLab.
He said that the nefarious designs of the incumbent Indian government pursuing the Hindutva ideology were revealed as it used Pulwama attack for electoral victory.
He mentioned that India also failed to achieve its target in the airstrike in Pakistan’s Balakot area and warned that such a belligerent attitude could lead to a dangerous situation between the two nuclear-armed states.
“Pakistan has always given peace a chance, however, India is repeatedly making mistakes through acts of irresponsible aggression,” the president said.
Comprised of the ‘artificial unity of different states’, he said, India “must not take any risk of hostility towards its neighbours”.
President Alvi said that India was committing a crime by changing the demographics of IOK as it revoked Article 370 and 35-A of its Constitution.
He maintained that Pakistan would continue to highlight the stories of oppression and cruelty in occupied Kashmir at international forums, which India was trying to hide by putting a curb on internet and broadband communication.
“We have to show the visual evidence of Indian atrocities to the world to wake up their conscience,” he said.
“For its part, Pakistan will remain unshakable in its solidarity with the Kashmiri people until they realise their legitimate and inalienable right to self-determination, in accordance with the United Nations Charter and relevant UN Security Council resolutions. This is indispensable for durable peace and security in South Asia,” PM Imran said in his message to the nation on Kashmir Solidarity Day.
He reaffirmed Pakistan’s resolute support for the Kashmiri brothers and sisters, who continued to be subjected to an inhuman military siege and communications blockade since August 5, 2019.
He added that the tragedy of the Kashmiris went back more than seven decades as they had faced unabated repression and consistent denial of their fundamental rights by India.
“India must stop its brutal suppression of the Kashmiris, adhere to its international human rights obligations, and honour the commitment to Kashmiris to grant their inalienable right to self-determination through a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices,” the prime minister demanded.
PM Imran said that ever since India reneged on this commitment, it had sought to brutally suppress the Kashmiris’ quest for freedom.
The latest Indian attempts to further colonize IOK by altering its demography and obliterating the distinct Kashmiri identity were reflective of a sinister design to convert the Muslim majority into a minority, he added.
These changes, he explained, were being carried out through promulgation of illegal domicile rules, changes in property laws, and downgrading the status of Urdu language. Incentives were being offered to outsiders to settle on the occupied land of the Kashmiris in violation of international law, particularly the 4th Geneva Convention.
The prime minister said that over eight million Kashmiris had been turned into prisoners in their own homes, with more than 900,000 occupation troops holding them hostage.
“History has few examples of such violation of fundamental rights. Thousands of Kashmiris have been arbitrarily detained. The Kashmiri youth are being particularly targeted through abductions, incarceration at undisclosed locations, indiscriminate use of pellet guns, and extra-judicial killings in fake encounters,” he remarked.
Calling it a “manifestation of Indian state terrorism against innocent Kashmiris”, the prime minister called for the immediate lifting of the military siege and communications blockade as well as rescinding of India’s illegal and unilateral actions in the IOK.
Moreover, he said, all those arbitrarily arrested and illegally incarcerated should be released and draconian laws providing impunity to the Indian occupation forces immediately repealed.
The prime minister demanded India to give access to the international human rights and humanitarian organisations, as well as the international media to investigate the grave human rights situation in the occupied territory.
Foreign Minister Qureshi asked international observers and foreign media to visit both parts of Kashmir for getting first-hand information about normalcy at the Pakistani side and the worsening human rights situation in IOK.
“I invite the foreign media and international observers to come and see themselves development in AJK, and later visit Srinagar to see the opposite,” the foreign minister said in his address to the Kashmir Solidarity rally in the Federal Capital.
The comparison of “two entirely opposite situations in the AJK and the IOK” should be an eye-opener for the world, he added.
Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz, parliamentarians and a large number of people from all walks of life participated in the rally.
The foreign minister said that Pakistan would continue to extend support to the Kashmiris till they got their right to self-determination.
All the institutions of Pakistan, he added, were on same page on the issue of Kashmir with a united stance regarding the rights of Kashmiris.
“We reaffirm our unflinching solidarity with the IOK people. The entire Pakistani nation stands with them in their valiant struggle to secure their inalienable right to self-determination,” he said.
Qureshi mentioned that for 18 months, the IOK had been under continuous Indian military siege, with the Kashmiris virtually caged in their own houses amid communications blockade and severe restrictions on the media.
“Under the suffocating military siege and in the face of ravaging Covid-19 pandemic, the Indian army has continued cordon-and-search operations, staged fake ‘encounters’, and indulged in the killing spree of Kashmiri youngsters in the IOK — thus further accentuating the grave humanitarian tragedy there,” he said.
Following the extremist Hindutva ideology, he said, the RSS-BJP regime had also embarked on a design to change the demographic structure of the occupied territory and obliterate the distinct Kashmiri identity.
Apart from new domicile and property laws, the rules changing the official status of Urdu language were also part of India’s that sinister campaign, he added.
The foreign minister called upon the international media, United Nations secretary-general, the UN high commissioner for human rights, world parliaments, and human rights and civil society organisations to take notice of the grave human rights violations in IOK, including detentions without trial, use of pellet guns, and extra-judicial killings.
The international community must act in support of the fundamental freedoms and basic human rights of the Kashmiris, he said, urging India to allow the UN Fact-Finding Mission to investigate the grave human rights violations in IOK.
“India must allow the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) unhindered access to carry out its mandate. If India has nothing to hide, it must allow international media and civil society to visit and report on the human rights situation in the IOK,” he said.
The foreign minister stressed on the international community to hold India accountable for its egregious violations of human rights and serious crimes against the Kashmiri people.
“Pakistan also reaffirms full support to the Kashmiri brothers and sisters. This solidarity will continue until the Kashmiris achieve their inalienable right to self-determination as enshrined in the UN Charter and relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” he said.
It was the only course to durable peace, security and development in South Asia, the foreign minister stressed.
