Azad Jammu Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan said on Saturday that after the revocation of Articles 35-A and 370 on August 5, 2019, any semblance of autonomy enjoyed by the people of Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) has been done away.
Furthermore, he said that Indian government’s proposed amendment to the Jammu and Kashmir Development Act would give the occupation forces full authority to declare any part of IHK as a “strategic area”, allowing them to “legitimise” land grab within the disputed territory.
The president made these comments while addressing a seminar on Kashmir organised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in the federal capital, the AJK Presidential secretariat later told media here.
Masood Khan said that almost a year had elapsed since the occupational lockdown had been imposed in IOJK and during this period, the India government had taken illicit steps towards bi-furcating the territory, placing it under Union control and ultimately introducing the New Domicile Rules. Proposed amendments in Jammu and Kashmir Development Act would turn the entire region into a military establishment, he added.
The president said that privileged special status and exclusive rights to permanent residence, acquisition of property, education and livelihood of Kashmiris had been revoked making way for non-Kashmiris to come and settle in the state which eventually would change Kashmir’s Muslim majority demography into a minority.
After the introduction of the New Domicile Rules, Kashmiris had been displaced, dispossessed and disenfranchised within their own homeland, he said while adding that 32,000 non-state Indians had been given domiciles which was lebensraum and irredentism on the part of India.
Under the garb of the cordon and search operation, hundreds of Kashmiris had been martyred since the lockdown had been imposed in IOJK, the president mentioned.
He expressed his gratitude to the international media, world parliaments, diaspora community and the global civil society for raising their voice in favour of the Kashmiris, especially after the illegal steps taken on August 5 last year.
He lauded the international community for openly calling out India for its human rights violations and illicit actions.
The president especially thanked the important parliaments such as the US Congress; both the British Houses, European and ASEAN Parliaments for holding debates, hearings and publishing reports on the situation in IOJK and also thanked the Kuwaiti Cabinet for calling out India’s Hindu-extremist policy.
He said that the people of AJK and IOJK paid tribute the role played by the State of Pakistan, human rights activists and the dynamic diaspora community for raising the issue of Kashmir and highlighting the gross human rights violations taking place in IOJK.
“The issue of Kashmir was internationalised after August 5 and the UN Security Council has held three informal debates on Jammu and Kashmir further accentuating our claims of the matter being an international dispute and not an internal or territorial issue”, he said.
Unfortunately, he said, this momentum had been broken due to the global community’s attention being diverted towards issues like the COVID-19 pandemic. “We must regain this momentum and bring Kashmir into the international spotlight once again”, said Masood Khan.
The president said that the fascist Indian government’s strategy was simply to destroy Pakistan and wipe it off the face of the world map.
“This is what the whole political and military leadership of India says and their intention is to carry out mischief just below the threshold of nuclear war. In their ambition to establish Akhand Baharat they have adopted an extremist Hindutva policy where their aim is to eliminate all non-Hindus from the whole of the Sub-continent,” he said.
The president said that our foremost priority was to stop the occupation and human rights violations taking place in IOJK. He urged the audience to demonstrate unity amongst their ranks to help built international pressure. He said “We must leverage the strengths of the diaspora community.”
He added that we must invest in effectively communicating our stance and plight of the Kashmiris to the international community.
“Play in the same realm of hybrid warfare in which India is playing. We must get RSS and BJP designated as terrorist organisations. India has imposed a war on us. Our identity and religion is under threat”, he said.
The president said that we were in the middle of a war that India had started.
“We must be prepared and for that, we have to make Pakistan economically, politically, diplomatically and militarily strong,” he added.
“We must free our brothers and a sister from oppression as one part of our body is in shackles. Pakistan will only be complete when IOJK is liberated from the oppressive occupation of India”, the president said.
