Ashraf Ansari/ Zubair Qureshi
Islamabad
Speakers at a seminar organized at Aiwan-e-Quaid here Friday condemned illegal action by the Indian government of scrapping Article 370 and 35-A of the Indian constitution which entitled the occupied Jammu & Kashmir to a special status.
They said the Indian action violated the UN resolutions that had obligated India and Pakistan not to change status quo of the disputed territory till the time the dispute is resolved on the basis of the resolutions enshrining right of the Kashmiri people to self-determination.
The seminar was jointly organized by the Nazriya Pakistan Council (NPC) and Pakistan Observer to express solidarity with the struggling people of the Indian Occupied Kashmir in the wake of latest development in the occupied territory.
Chairman of the NPC Dr Naeem Ghani presided over the seminar. The seminar was attended by NPC Executive Secretary and Executive Editor of Pakistan Observer Gauhar Zahid Malik, noted poet and media person Nawab Kaifi, Barrister Afzal, Mudassar Raza Siami, Mrs Qamar Aftab, Sabeen Younas, Tahira Andleeb, Wafa Chishti, Shaida Chishti, Ali Ahmed Qamar, Peer Atique Chishti, Sael Nizami, Irfan Ahmed and others.
NPC Chairman Dr Naeem Ghani in his opening remarks said it was time to uphold our identity which he said was the real force of the Pakistani nation. He warned that India would not stop its campaign at scrapping of Article-370 or 35-A, but it will go further and try to push the Kashmiris out of the valley to change entire demography of the region. He stressed the need to mobilize international public opinion against Indian illegalities and brutal policy being pursued in Kashmir.
Prominent Kshmiri writer Prof Dr Maqsood Jafri urged the Pakistani government to pursue a more vigorous Kashmir policy to facilitate the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiri people for their right to self-determination. He said Pakistan should take up the Kashmir issue at the international level in the framework of the UN charter. He proposed that “Kashmir Desks” should be set up at all the Pakistani missions abroad to serve the cause of the Kashmiri people.
MNA and member of the NPC Executive Committee, Mrs Farrukh Khan said the nation should be mobilized in support of the struggling Kashmiris who are suffering the Indian brutalities in the held Kashmir.
She said women and the youth were suffering most in the occupied valley and rendering supreme sacrifices for their just cause. She said it is most gratifying that the armed forces of Pakistan were fully committed to the cause of the Kashmiri people. She expressed her deep concerns about deteriorating health of the detained Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik. She called into question the Indian democracy while Kashmiri people were suffering starvation under curfew since Aug 5, 2019 and they were denied access to all communication links.
Noted intellectual Prof Dr Ayub Sabir highlighted various episodes of the struggle of the Kashmiri people and lamented that most of the political leaders after Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Liaqat Ali Khan miserably failed in their national obligations towards the Kashmiri people.
Senior Vice Chairman of NPC Mian Muhammad Javed said Pakistan should adopt a realistic policy and should review its relations with India. He said there was no justification for trade with India while it continued its atrocities in the occupied valley. He said the international community should impose economic sanctions on India for its inhuman acts in the valley.
Mian Muhammad Javed moved a resolution at the seminar that was unanimously approved by the participants. The resolution condemned the scrapping of Article 370 and 35-A by India and termed it as violation of the UN resolutions on Kshmir. It called for immediate action on part of the international community to ensure reversal of Aug 5 action by the Indian government.
Nawab Kaifi recited a poem on Kashmir on this occasion. Following is the full text of the resolution:
“This Special Kashmir Forum held under joint auspices of Nazriya Pakistan Council and Daily Pakistan Observer condemns the atrocious, illegal and oppressive action by Indian government to bifurcate the disputed State of Jammu and Kashmir annexing region of Ladakh to New Delhi, abrogating Article 370 and 35-A to terminate the special status of the State as an attempt to change the demography of J&K, using cluster bombs on civilian population across the Line of Control, deploying disproportionate armed forces and killing of innocent Kashmiris there to pressurize them not to follow their legitimate struggle for realizing their birth right of self-determination in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions.
This Forum assures the oppressed people of India-occupied Kashmir that their voice would be raised at all regional and international forums as Kashmiris are the basic party to the dispute over Jammu and Kashmir under deliberation in the United Nations Security Council since January 1st 1947. All unilateral actions and attempts made or being made by India violate the UN Kashmir resolutions and hence they are vehemently condemned.
This Forum appeals to the UN Human Rights Council to set up immediately an Inquiry Commission to probe consistent gross human rights violations in J&K by India through her 800,000 armed forces deployed there, enforcement of draconian laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and Public Safety Act. It urges parliaments of the world countries to take up the worsening situation of Jammu and Kashmir in their elected Houses for debate, calling upon India to restrain from committing anti-human crimes in the disputed State. It appeals to the UN Secretary-General to take up suo moto the pending case of J&K in the Security Council to settle this dispute as per UN resolutions on Kashmir.
Immediate action be taken to reverse illegal Indian action and restore the status quo ante in respect of Article 370 and 35-A of the Indian Constitution providing special status to occupied Jammu & Kashmir.”
