Haider makes passionate appeal for Kashmiris’ unity

Protesters marched from Khurshid Hassan Khurshid Stadium to Upper Adda

MUZAFFARABAD: A rally led by Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister was taken out in Muzaffarabad to express solidarity with the people of Indian-administered Kashmir.

Thousands of people following Eid prayers in Khurshid Hassan Khurshid Stadium and Eidgah marched towards Upper Adda and shouted anti-India and pro-freedom slogans like “we want freedom and “go India go back.”

Addressing the participants, the prime minister Raja Farooq Haider said that very soon people in the Indian-administered Himalayan state would achieve their goal.

“The enemy knows that people of the whole state are unified for their noble cause so we should promote unity among our ranks to achieve the national goal which is right of self-determination,” he added.

He urged the Kashmiris who are facing worst kind of atrocities in the hands of Indian forces to maintain unity at the crucial time of liberation struggle.

“Kashmiris sacrificed everything from blood to eyesight and now freedom was the final destination of my brave nation,” Haider said while tears were rolling down his cheeks during his short address.

In other districts of AJK, thousands of people at Eid congregations prayed for the oppressed Kashmiris.

Security

During Eid congregations and festivities, foolproof security was put in place in the 10 districts of Azad Kashmir.

Besides police, special branch officials in plain clothes were also deployed on the entry and exit points of Eidgahs, mosques and Imambargahs in the region.

The prime minister celebrated Eid at Muzaffarabad, President Masood Khan at Rawalakot, Speaker Shah Ghulam Qadir at Neelum Valley and Opposition Leader Chaudhry Muhammad Yaseen in the Britain.

UN rights body statement hailed

Meanwhile, the Kashmiri leaders across the Line of Control (LoC) appreciated the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights statement taking note of excesses by Indian forces in Kashmir to quell the ongoing peaceful protests.

World comity should put pressure on India for the peaceful settlement of the Kashmir dispute as per the wishes of the Kashmiri people, said AJK prime minister.

Haider further said that the escalation in violence in Kashmir poses a potential threat to the regional peace and security.

Opposition leader Chaudhry Yasin asked the OIC and other Muslim states should take notice of the Indian state terrorism.

Member Kashmir Council Yousaf Mir urged the UN secretary-general to nominate his special envoy for Jammu and Kashmir to brief the world community about the brutalities of the Indian military.

“When you steal the eyesight of young and school going boys and girls for demanding the right of self-determination then you have no right to claim as one of the biggest democracies on the planet,” Mir added.

The APHC AJK chapter leader and Vice-Chairman Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement Altaf Ahmad Bhat said that Indian prime minister’s statement in UN accusing Pakistan of human rights violations in Balochistan was a bid to divert the world community’s attention from the Kashmir situation where Indian forces have killed about 100 Kashmiris and injured over 12,000 since July 8.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2016.