MUZAFFARABAD:
Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhary, president of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK), urged the international community on Wednesday to effectively resolve the lingering Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN resolutions for regional and global peace and security.
In his annual address to the Legislative Assembly (LA), he expressed concern regarding the grave violations of human rights in the Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and noted that India was rapidly altering the demography of the state in addition to altering the majority of Muslims following its illegal acts on August 5, 2019.
He made it abundantly clear that the IIOJK people, who had made great sacrifices, would never bow down to the aggressor. He noted that their precious blood would bear fruit shortly after the dawn of freedom from the Indian yoke.
The president of AJK pleaded with the international community to pay attention to India’s evil deeds, such as giving citizenship to more than four million non-residents and changing the boundaries to appoint a Hindu chief minister. He added that the ultimate objective was to maintain its illegal occupation and crush the Kashmiris’ struggle for the right to self-determination.
More details: Amnesty International expresses concern about HR violations in IIOJK. He stated that the Kashmir resolution was even more significant given that both India and Pakistan were nuclear powers and that even a small error could result in a catastrophe for the entire world.
He urged the people of the AJK to highlight the violations of human rights in the IIOJK through mainstream and social media in order to bring the issue to the international community’s attention. In that regard, the primary responsibility belonged to the AJK government.
Barrister Sultan praised the Kashmiri diaspora in the West for raising public awareness and bringing attention to the Kashmir issue in their own countries and in forums like parliaments. For this purpose, he mentioned his recent trips to the United States and various European nations.
In the meantime, the Legislative Assembly unanimously approved a resolution urging the international community to recognize the violations of human rights in the IIOJK and contribute to a just and long-lasting solution.
Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan, opposition leader Chaudhry Latif Akbar, PPP President Chaudhary Yaseen, PML-N leader Raja Farooq Haider Khan, PML-N AJK President Shah Ghulam Qadir, and former AJK prime minister Sardar Attique Ahmad Khan, among others, jointly submitted the resolution.
While moving the resolution in the house, Sardar Tanveer stated that Kashmir was the oldest issue on the UN agenda and needed to be addressed first for long-term peace in the region and international security.
The resolution praised the sacrifices made by Jammu and Kashmiris for their just cause and affirmed Pakistan’s unwavering political, moral, and diplomatic support for Kashmir.
The resolution called on the United Nations to investigate acts of demographic change like the settlement of non-residents in the held valley and delimitations to turn the Muslim majority into a minority and impose Hindu leadership on them.
It also stated that the people of Jammu and Kashmir would never accept the division of their state and that the right to self-determination would not be substituted for any unilateral action taken by the Indian government after August 5, 2019.
The resolution expressed concern over the presence of nearly one million armed forces in the occupied valley and noted that the Indian government had transformed the IIOJK into the largest military zone. It slammed the Indian government for any and all actions, including so-called encroachment operations to occupy civilian lands.
It also condemned searches, arrests of leadership under black laws, extrajudicial killings, and the Indian forces’ takeover of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) office in Srinagar.
The resolution demanded that the Indian government permit impartial investigations into the violations of human rights in the valley and reiterated Pakistan’s undying support for the IIOJK people’s right to self-determination.