Turkey’s stance on Kashmir welcomed in Muzaffarabad

AJK leaders say world community should pressure India over IoK abuses

MUZAFFARABAD: Kashmiri leaders on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) have welcomed the Turkish president’s support for Kashmiris’ right of self-determination.

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Masood Khan said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s speech in the National Assembly indicated the clear stance of Turkey on the Kashmir dispute and how India was facing isolation on the diplomatic front on the subject.

“Every Kashmiri from Srinagar to Muzaffarabad was happy over the courageous stand of President Erdogan on the escalating situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IoK),” Khan said. “It is now the duty of the world community to exert pressure over India to give the right of self-determination to Kashmiris who have been facing the worst kind of Indian state terrorism since 1947,” he added.

Speaker AJK Legislative Assembly, Shah Ghulam Qadir, said that the statement of Turkish President Erdogan was the success of Pakistan’s foreign policy and that Islamabad should work hard to win the support of other countries for the Kashmir cause.

“Turkey has been supporting the Kashmiris struggle for a long time. When Indian troops violated the ceasefire on LoC, President Erdogan vowed to back Kashmiris, which was a source of inspiration for people living across the LoC,” he said.

Member Kashmir Council Younas Mir said that other Muslim countries should adopt the same stance as President Erdogan and support Kashmiris.

“President Erdogan has opened the door for other world leaders to come forward and take notice of the human rights abuses by Indian forces where hundreds of Kashmiris have lost their eyesight after being shot by pellet guns used by the occupation forces,” Mir added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2016.