Zubair Qureshi
Islamabad
The President of Azad Jammu & Kashmir Sardar Masood Khan, has said an Islamic renaissance is the only solution to the plight of the Muslims of South Asia in general and of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK) in particular.
He said this while addressing the international Kashmir Convention organized by the World Kashmir Forum (WKF) on Tuesday. Sardar Masood Khan was presiding over the international convention.
Giving a graphic picture of occupied Kashmir, Sardar Masood Khan questioned what would happen if [God forbid] a brutal force of 900,000 had invaded one of the Pakistani cities.
The conference was also addressed by Chairman of the Parliament’s Kashmir Committee Shehryar Khan Afridi, WKF Chairman and host of the event Haji Mohammad Rafiq Pardesi, WKF Secretary General former Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan, former Secretary ECP, Kunwar M Dilshad, Chairperson J&K Solidarity Movement Uzma Gul, Ambassador Javed Hafiz, Lt General (R) Naeem Khalid Lodhi and Ambassador Abdul Basit.
The event was attended by a large number of participants including members of civil society, champions of human rights, diplomats Palestinian Ambassador Ahmed Rabei, High Commissioner of South Africa Mthuthuzeli Madikiza, DHM Germany Dr Philipp Deichman and Turkish diplomat.
In his keynote address AJK President Sardar Masood Khan suggested an aggressive and assertive diplomatic strategy on Kashmir.
Kashmir Committee Chairman Shehryar Afridi, the chief guest said Kashmiris were constantly giving a wake-up call to the world conscience over gross human rights violations by India in the occupied territory.
Since revocation of the Special Status of Kashmir granted under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution on August 5, 2019, Kashmiris in the IIOJK are living in permanent lockdown. They are denied basic human rights like food, education, health and access to the Internet etc.
He warned that Pakistan and India might head to a nuclear war if the Kashmir dispute was not amicably resolved according to the UN resolutions.
WKF Chairman Haji Mohammad Rafiq Pardesi said the entire nation stood behind Kashmiris who were facing the worst suppression by the occupying Indian forces for the last one year and three months.
He urged the world as well as the United Nations to ensure the right of self-determination for the Kashmiris as promised in its resolutions. Pardesi condemned Modi’s illegal actions on Kashmir, saying he was rightly called the “Butcher of Gujarat”. The WKF chairman urged the masses to duly sign the WKF petition they are preparing to present to the UN Security Council.
The WKF chief was passionate enough to offer the Government of Pakistan if it resolved the Kashmir and Palestine disputes along with the United Nations amicably there would be no harm in accepting Israel.
Kunwar M Dilshad said the voice of Kashmiris cannot be suppressed. He praised the WKF particularly, Haji Mohammad Rafiq Pardesi for holding the significant event.
Uzma Gul regretfully remarked in 15 months of siege around 11,000 Kashmiris have been martyred or mutilated by occupying Indian forces. Ambassador Javed Hafiz that Maharaja Hari Singh had signed the Instrument of Accession when he was no longer in control of the Kashmir state so the territory didn’t belong to him but the Kashmiri people.
Lt Gen Naeem Khalid Lodhi said the peaceful resolution of Kashmir was related to lasting peace in the region. “Global peace would suffer if this crisis is not dealt with in accordance with the Kashmiris’ aspirations.”
Ambassador Abdul Basit regretted silence of the world community over miseries of Kashmiris. He felt that cul-de-sac has been reached on this long-lingering issue. WKF Secretary General Anwar Mansoor Khan highlighted the legal and justified stance of Pakistan on the Kashmir issue. He underlined breach of peace in August 2019 by India on ‘administered’ Kashmir. He said India had violated all bilateral agreements
and international conventions on Kashmir issue but Pakistan wanted peace and not the war and resolution of the conflict peacefully.
At the end of the convention, Chairman Saylani Welfare Trust Maulana Bashir Faooqi led the collective Dua for the freedom of the Kashmiris.
