India involved in systematic economic strangulation of Kashmiris, says Afridi

ISLAMABAD: Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Chairman Shehryar Khan Afridi on Wednesday accused the Indian occupational regime of implementing a vicious plan of systematic economic strangulation of Kashmiris in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).

Addressing the launching ceremony of a book titled ‘Kashmir: Demographic Shift, Historical Developments and Hindutva’ at Kashmir Council, Afridi said that the book reflected a fact that the academia of Pakistan was alive to the developments taking place in and around the Kashmir region, and how the Hindutva rule was involved in the genocide of Kashmiris.

The book, authored by Dr Kashif Zaheer, Dr Rashid Aftab and others, covers the Indian war crimes being committed in IOK with a specific reference to demographic changes, historical developments taking place in Kashmir and the invasion of Kashmir by Hindutva rule.

Afridi said that after sidelining the Kashmiris and putting the political leadership of Kashmiris behind bars, the Hindutva regime was involved in systematic economic strangulation of Kashmiris.

He added that India was committing genocide of Kashmiris and information terrorism, demographic terrorism and cultural terrorism were being employed as a major tool of genocide in IOK.

He urged the youth to become ambassadors of Kashmiris and to use social media to show the world the atrocities being committed against the Kashmiris by the illegally occupying regime of India.

He maintained there is a need to project the fact that how half widows have been living and how pallet guns which are barred to be used against animals are being independently used against Kashmiris.

He said that the mysterious silence of the world is a big question mark for their humanity, adding the prosperous world should not compromise humanity for commercial and market interest.

Afridi said that India was misusing draconian and black laws of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and youth were being picked, jailed and killed without any trial.

He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had proved his worth by effectively raising the Kashmir dispute at all the available international forums.

He maintained that the Hindutva regime was making all-out efforts to strip the Kashmiris of their identity and cultural heritage of Kashmir was being destroyed and a new and hybrid culture of Hinduism was being introduced in occupied Kashmir.

He urged the writers, artists, vocalists, actors and bloggers to create content and other material to promote and project Kashmiri culture and identity.

He stressed that Pakistan, under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran, would continue fighting the cause of Kashmir at all fora and no dialogue can be held at the cost of Kashmir cause.

He underscored that the entire political, military and bureaucratic leadership of the country were unanimous that no compromise could be made at the cost of Kashmir.

He further stated that it was PM Imran who decorated senior Kashmiri Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani with Nishan-e-Pakistan and no one would dare to question the integrity of Syed Ali Geelani.

He said that it was about time that the youth of Pakistan and Kashmir must act as ambassadors of Kashmir and develop content on Kashmir and project it on the digital space so as Indian false and fake propaganda on Kashmir could be countered.

He urged the youth to develop information technology tools to help project Kashmiri content and bypass Indian fake news on Kashmir in the digital space.

Mian Abrar
Mian Abrar
The writer heads Pakistan Today's Islamabad Bureau. He has a special focus on counter-terrorism and inter-state relations in Asia, Asia Pacific and South East Asia regions. He tweets as @mian_abrar and also can be reached at [email protected]

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