Zubair Qureshi
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has unequivocally said that New Delhi’s dream of turning the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir into Hindu Rashtra will never materialize as the Kashmiri people are determined to continue their struggle for freedom and the right to self-determination till the last drop of their blood.
He made these remarks while addressing as a keynote speaker a webinar on “Marginalization of Kashmiris in the Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir by Indian Government”, organised by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI).
Other speakers at the event included former Senator Javed Jabbar, Chairperson Pakistan Peace and Culture Organization Mishaal Hussain Malik and AVM (R) Shahzad Chaudhry.
Acting President IPRI, Brig (R) Raashid Wali Janjua hosted the event. “Despite India’s policy of irredentism and colonialism, Kashmiris have vowed to continue their struggle for freedom and self-determination by giving their blood to keep the flame of liberty burning. I say with conviction that the truth will prevail, evil will be crushed, and the Indian criminals will be brought to justice,” Khan affirmed.
He said that the whole population of occupied Jammu and Kashmir has been under siege of the Indian Army since August 5 last year, and the occupation troops are ruthlessly engaged in crimes like the ethnic cleansing of the Kashmiri people, which are not only crimes against humanity but war crimes as well.
Khan said that the BJP-RSS regime is taking systematic steps in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK) to alter its demography, its geography, its statehood, and the rights of the people of Kashmir recognised by international law.
“Jammu and Kashmir, as we knew it and as recognised by the UN is disappearing before our very eyes,” he warned
He elaborated that last year on August 5, after invasion and forcibly annexing the occupied territory with its federation it arbitrarily and in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions divided the occupied state into two parts and designated them as federal territories.
Addressing the webinar Javed Jabbar said the recent acts by the BJP government of doing away with the special status of Kashmir had sent a very disturbing message to the world regarding treatment of minorities in India, particularly the occupied valley.
In her address, Mishaal Malik drew the international community particularly the United Nations and the European Union and other bodies’ attention towards plight of the Kashmiri people in the IIOJK and shared how legal businesses of Kashmiri Muslims were being delegitimized under illegal edicts and their land is being commandeered for settlements and Hindu enterprises.
