Incarcerated Vice Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Shabbir Ahmad Shah, has taken strong exception to the malicious attempt by the authorities in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir to seize Waqf Board lands and properties throughout the territory.
Shabbir Ahmad Shah in a message sent from New Delhi’s infamous Tihar Jail and released in Srinagar said that it was unfortunate that the RSS-influenced fascist Narendra Modi-led Indian government after snatching every right from Kashmiris was now hell bent on seizing the Waqf Board lands and properties all across the territory. He termed it as an infringement into the religious affairs of the Muslims.
The APHC Vice Chairman said that occupation authorities were planning to occupy Srinagar’s Eidgah. He said, owing to its religious and historical importance, Eidgah has been a sacred place for Kashmiris and they would resist tooth and nail any move aimed at grabbing it. He said the RSS and BJP nexus wants to use the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board as an important weapon to advance its Hindutva agenda in the occupied territory.
He said that the apartheid regime wanted to destroy the socio-ethnic and religious identity of IIOJK thereby occupying all religious and politically important places in the valley. Referring to the ‘Shakha Sangam (meeting of RSS units)’ program, he said that Hindutva organization was giving training to its workers under the program so that Muslims can be killed in the region on the pattern of 1947 massacre.
Shabbir Ahmad Shah also voiced serious concern over the continued killing of innocent youth by Indian troops in IIOJK. He urged the international community to hold India accountable for the crimes being perpetrated by its troops in the occupied territory.
Meanwhile, APHC leader, Khawaja Firdous, in a statement issued in Srinagar said Kashmir is an internationally recognized dispute pending resolution for the last over seven decades. He said India, which had taken the dispute to the United Nations itself, is the biggest hurdle in its settlement. He said that New Delhi was now attempting to mislead the world by portraying that Kashmir is a bilateral dispute between Pakistan and India.
The APHC leader deplored that instead of fulfilling its promise of giving the Kashmiris their right to self-determination, New Delhi has virtually turned IIOJK into a military garrison where all basic rights and freedoms of the people have been usurped. He said India is using different tactics to suppress the Kashmiris’ freedom struggle but will never succeed in its nefarious designs.
Khawaja Firdous appealed to the government of Pakistan to intensify its diplomatic campaign to highlight the Kashmir dispute at the international level. He also called upon the international community to play its role in resolving the lingering dispute in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions and Kashmiris’ aspirations.
On the other hand, APHC leader and Chairman of Democratic Hurriyat Forum, Chaudhry Shaheen Iqbal, at a meeting with the leaders of the constituent parties of AJK-chapter of his forum in Rawalpindi apprised them of the ground situation of IIOJK. He said after August 5, 2019, India has stepped up its atrocities on the people of the territory.
Chaudhry Shaheen Iqbal said India has unleashed the nefarious propaganda to equate the Kashmir freedom movement with terrorism but the world community has realized that the Kashmiris are engaged in a just struggle for securing their right to self-determination guaranteed by the UN through its several resolutions.
Chaudhry Shaheen Iqbal said Pakistan’s policy regarding Indian aggression in Kashmir is very clear, but there is a dire need to strengthen it and build the international pressure to force India to stop the blatant violations of human rights in the territory.—KMS
