Divided Kashmiri families: APHC seeks free movement across Line of Control
Bhat said that besides others, women suffered the most in the Indian-administered Kashmir
Pakistani Kashmiri men walk past the truck supply check point to India at the Line of Control (LoC) in Chakothi on September 18, 2013. PHOTO: AFP
MUZAFFARABAD:
Delegates of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), headed by Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement (JKSM) chief Zaffar Akbar Bhat, appealed both Pakistan and India to allow the divided Kashmiri families to cross the Line of Control (LoC) as state subjects.
“Kashmir dispute is a humanitarian issue that must be addressed to end the sufferings of the people living across the LoC,” Bhat said at a reception organised by the people of Muzaffarabad.
“The best relief to the divided families is to allow them to cross the LoC as state subjects and both Pakistan and India should accept the papers as ‘travel documents’ for the people of Jammu and Kashmir who are facing difficulties to reach their relatives across the LoC,” Bhatt added.
Bhat said that besides others, women suffered the most in the Indian-administered Kashmir, adding that they (women) were still being used as a weapon of war by Indian forces.
“It is the duty of the international community to take notice of the sufferings of Kashmiri women. The world community should pressure India into discontinuing the use of brute force against women and children in Indian-administered Kashmir. We cannot find an example where pellet guns are used to disperse protesters other than in Indian-administered Kashmir.”
Chairman of the Sikh Welfare Council, Jammu, Narinder Singh Khalsa said that his presence in Muzaffarabad proved that ongoing Kashmiris movement was jointly being waged by Muslim and non-Muslim.
“We are facing as much discrimination and sufferings in Jammu areas as our Kashmiri Muslim brothers in Indian-administered Kashmir since the Partition,” Khalsa said.
“Before travelling from Islamabad to Muzaffarabad, I was thinking that there would be bunkers and identification parades in Azad Kashmir like we have been witnessing in Sriangar since 1989, but there was no military presence right from Kohala to Muzaffarabad and the people in Azad Kashmir are really free,” Khalsa added.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 6th, 2016.
Delegates of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), headed by Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement (JKSM) chief Zaffar Akbar Bhat, appealed both Pakistan and India to allow the divided Kashmiri families to cross the Line of Control (LoC) as state subjects.
“Kashmir dispute is a humanitarian issue that must be addressed to end the sufferings of the people living across the LoC,” Bhat said at a reception organised by the people of Muzaffarabad.
“The best relief to the divided families is to allow them to cross the LoC as state subjects and both Pakistan and India should accept the papers as ‘travel documents’ for the people of Jammu and Kashmir who are facing difficulties to reach their relatives across the LoC,” Bhatt added.
Bhat said that besides others, women suffered the most in the Indian-administered Kashmir, adding that they (women) were still being used as a weapon of war by Indian forces.
“It is the duty of the international community to take notice of the sufferings of Kashmiri women. The world community should pressure India into discontinuing the use of brute force against women and children in Indian-administered Kashmir. We cannot find an example where pellet guns are used to disperse protesters other than in Indian-administered Kashmir.”
Chairman of the Sikh Welfare Council, Jammu, Narinder Singh Khalsa said that his presence in Muzaffarabad proved that ongoing Kashmiris movement was jointly being waged by Muslim and non-Muslim.
“We are facing as much discrimination and sufferings in Jammu areas as our Kashmiri Muslim brothers in Indian-administered Kashmir since the Partition,” Khalsa said.
“Before travelling from Islamabad to Muzaffarabad, I was thinking that there would be bunkers and identification parades in Azad Kashmir like we have been witnessing in Sriangar since 1989, but there was no military presence right from Kohala to Muzaffarabad and the people in Azad Kashmir are really free,” Khalsa added.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 6th, 2016.