Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan Tuesday said a politically, economically and militarily strong Pakistan would guarantee a strong advocate for Kashmir. ‘Today we must make a vow to make Pakistan amongst the top ten economies of the world by the year 2050,’ he said while addressing a youth conference organised here by the National Defence University on ‘Hindu Majoritarian Regime in India and Marginalisation of Muslims in IOK’.
The event was attended by students from the AJK public sector universities, postgraduate degree colleges and leading religious seminaries. The AJK president, in his opening remarks, thanked the NDU management for actively organizing workshops, talks and conferences on the Kashmir issue. He said the NDU had been committed to engaging the youth in creating critical awareness on the intricacies of the Kashmir dispute.
Speaking on the steps taken by the Indian government on August 5, Sardar Masood said the unilateral actions were all illegal and illicit in nature. ‘Not only this but these steps are a clear violation of all international laws and conventions, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, Additional Protocol I and ICC Statutes.’ The steps, he said, were taken by India to once again invade, reoccupy, bifurcate and ultimately colonise the territory.
The AJK president while deploring the illegal steps taken by India, said an attempt had been made to revoke the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir. He added that India had made Kashmir an integral part of their union in its constitution, while Pakistan had recognized the disputed status of Kashmir and the inalienable right to self-determination of the people of the State of Jammu and Kashmir in Article 257 of its Constitution which states: ‘When the people of the State of Jammu and Kashmir decide to accede to Pakistan, the relationship between Pakistan and that State shall be determined in accordance with the wishes of the people of that State’.
President Masood condemned the grave human rights violations taking place in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), where the Kashmiris had been imprisoned in their homes and hospitals had become graveyards due to the scarcity of medical supplies. He said the young Kashmiris, including minors as young as 9, 12, 13, and 14, had been illegally detained and shifted to prisons all over India where they were being subjected to unimaginable tortures. ‘The Indian forces, like conquerors in the medieval period, are claiming Kashmiri women as spoils of wars.
