FOREIGN Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has of late forcefully been representing the sentiments of oppressed Kashmiri people both domestically and at the international level. Addressing the legislative assembly of Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, he strongly criticized the international community for turning a blind eye to India’s savagery in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir saying it was “not wise to sacrifice timeless principles for short-term interests”.
Indeed what the FM has stated is absolutely correct and undeniable. It is only some human rights groups who off and on speak or issue statements on the human rights violations in occupied Kashmir but the world community as a whole has never reacted to the Indian atrocities against the oppressed Kashmiri people. This has only emboldened India to turn the whole valley into a prison with deployment of millions of troops. The entire Kashmiri leadership is detained whilst extra judicial killings and raids are a norm in the occupied valley. Even after stripping the autonomy of Kashmir through the removal of Article 370, the Indian occupying forces have intensified their atrocities while at the same time nefarious efforts are afoot to change the demography of the disputed territory. The silence of world community on all this is really regrettable. We have been stating in these columns time and again that had this oppression been happening to non-Muslims, the heaven would have fallen by now and the oppressor would have been sanctioned or tried under war crimes. But in the case of Kashmir, India and its leadership enjoy complete impunity. These double standards pose a serious threat to the peace of the region and the world at large. The Foreign Minister in his address very rightly pointed out that India was misusing its position as the G-20 chair by hosting the event in the occupied territory, which he said is yet another display of India’s arrogance on the world stage. It should be seen as the success of our foreign policy that China, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye boycotted the G-20 meeting in Srinagar. We need to more forcefully raise the plight of Kashmiri people at the major capitals, apprising them of their responsibility towards the resolution of lingering dispute. We need to engage our overseas Pakistanis in order to sensitize the peoples of these capitals about the blatant human rights that are being committed in the occupied territory.
