Islamabad, May 8 (TNS): Sardar Masood Khan, President Azad Jammu and Kashmir has said that India cannot resolve the Kashmir issue by the use of state terrorism and neither will the people of Kashmir capitulate in the face of the the Indian intimidation.
President AJK made these remarks while addressing the opening session of the one-day international conference on Kashmir titles “An Unfinished Agenda of Partition”, organized by Islamabad based think tank Pakistan House here in the capital city of Islamabad. The event was also addressed by British member of Parliament and Shadow Minister for Immigration Afzal Khan and Chairman Jammu and Kashmir Human Rights Commission Dr. Nazir Gillani.
The conference was also addressed via video link my the MP Chris Leslie, Chairman All Parties Parliamentary Group on Kashmir and MP Julie Ward, Vice Chairman All Parties Parliamentary Group on Kashmir. Both MPs in their messages displayed their support with the people of Kashmir and condemned the atrocities taking place in Indian Occupied Kashmir.
The President said that the 70 year old issue of Kashmir is a product of the unfinished agenda of partition of the sub-continent that needs immediate attention and redressal. The people of Kashmir, he said, have been subjected to unimaginable torture and murder, use of pellet guns and illegal incarcerations of the youth have become a norm in Indian Occupied Kashmir.
President Masood Khan said that IOK has seen human right violations and crimes against humanity that are tantamount to war crimes. Peaceful protesters are killed and mowed down with impunity, he said. Informing the audience, he said that extrajudicial killings, raids, cordon and search operations are a routine affair in IOK.
Strongly condemning the recent killings of 14 peaceful protesters in Shopian and Srinagar in the past 36 hours under the guise of security operations, the President said that Indian forces are using excessive force as a means to intimidate the people of Kashmir in giving up their freedom struggle. “Kashmiris only demand their right to self-determination, as prescribed under the UN Security Council Resolutions passed almost 70 years ago” , he said.
Kashmiris, he said, are the most unarmed people on earth and the myths pedalled by India of terrorism in IOK is an excuse for deploying armed forces personnel in the region. He reiterated that the indigenous freedom struggle is intergenerational and people of all ages are part of this peaceful uprising.
Castigating Mehbooba Mufti – the puppet chief minister of IOK – , the President said that she is an abettor and facilitator of the central government’s atrocities against the people of Kashmir. India claims Kashmir as its integral part but despite using economic blandishments, political machinations and even brute force for the past 70 years, India has miserably failed in fully incorporating Kashmir as a part of its state territory.
Press Release
