Islamabad: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has appealed to the Arab world, Muslim Ummah, and the international community to intercede and save the people of Jammu and Kashmir from this scourge of war, siege, and brutalization.
In an interview with an Arab TV network, he said since August 5, 2019 when India once again invaded, reoccupied, and annexed IIOJK to bring it under its direct control, the over eight million people of the occupied territory are under brutal siege. The 900,000 troops deployed in IIOJK are operating with impunity and terrorizing the entire population of the occupied territory, he said.
During this period, Sardar Masood Khan said, the people have been subjected to brute force and violence. In addition to the arrest of the political leadership, thousands of youth and children have also been arrested. “The people of IIOJK are suffering immeasurably as they are getting killed and are being made aliens in their own homeland,” he said. He added that every day they (Indian troops) gun down and kill young men who raise slogans of freedom. So, the situation in the occupied territory is very grave as massive human rights violations are taking place there, he added.
The AJK President said that the Indian government is bringing Hindus from all over India and settling them in the territory to change the demographic composition of the region. They also are grabbing the land in the occupied territory to build illegal settlements there.
Sardar Masood Khan said that the demographic changes took place in the last century under Nazi Germany and the demographic change which is taking place in the occupied territory of Palestine, same is happening in Kashmir now. These are not just demographic changes but a massive influx of non-natives outsiders in the territory and yet the international community, the decision-makers, and the media persons choose to be silent and this kind of silence is complicity as matter of fact, he maintained.
Replying to a question, the AJK President said, “Kashmir’s freedom movement is peaceful and indigenous. It is led by hundreds of thousands of young men and women and in fact the entire citizenry of Kashmir of all ages.”
Tracing the history of the Kashmir liberation struggle, Sardar Masood Khan said that the conflict dates back to 1947 when the majority of the people of Jammu and Kashmir through their elected representative decided to join Pakistan. The people of Kashmir, he said, wanted to join Pakistan is because of the geographical contiguity, kinship, and historical ties with the people of Pakistan.
Their decision to join Pakistan, he asserted, was also supported by the principles of independence plan devised by the then British Indian government but India occupied a part of the territory that remains under its occupation to this day. Since 1947 the Indian occupational forces are brutalizing the people of Jammu and Kashmir and have been killing them for demanding their freedom and liberty, he deplored.
India, he said, itself had taken the Kashmir dispute to the United Nations that had passed several resolutions pledging that the people of Jammu and Kashmir would be given an opportunity in a referendum to exercise their political will to decide their future. Now the people of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan are ready for that referendum, the United Nations has also been ready but India is blocking it, he added. Web Desk
