Mubashar Naqvi
Muzaffarbad
The AJK President Sardar Masood Khan has said that war for the freedom of Kashmir has become inevitable, and the whole nation will fight this war shoulder to shoulder with the armed forces of Pakistan with full determination. ‘Before any such war, we will have to create unity in our rank and file, and side by side with strengthening Pakistan in economic and defense terms, we will have to fully understand the strategy and planning of the enemy to win the war,’ he added.
He was addressing a conference held here on Tuesday under the auspices of Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS). Among others, the conference was also addressed by Chairman Parliamentary Kashmir Committee Syed Fakhar Imam, former Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, Chairman PICSS Maj Gen (retd) Saad Khattak, All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Abdullah Gilani, head of Kashmir Institute of International Relations Altaf Andrabi and Dr. Mujahid Gilani.
The AJK president said that Indian attack of August 5 was an attack not only on Kashmir but on Azad Kashmir and Pakistan as well because since then India had constantly been threatening to attack and capture Azad Kashmir and to impose war on Pakistan. The state president rejected the impression that nothing had been done in Pakistan, Azad Kashmir and on the international level on the Kashmir issue after August 5. The fact remains that after August 5, voice was loudly raised in favor of right of self-determination of Kashmiri people and against human rights violations in occupied Kashmir at US congress, its human rights committees, and parliaments of UK, Europe and France, and by the governments of Malaysia, China and Iran and Turkey.
While describing Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan as Pakistan’s defence rampart, he asserted that the people of these regions had never let the enemy cross this defense line. ‘Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan are important for Pakistan not only in defense terms but due to their natural resources and now CPEC, these have become Pakistan’s economic lifeline,’.
