PHOTO: AFP
“Pakistan calls upon the international community to raise its voice in seeking an end to the gross violations of human rights and the reign of terror unleashed by Indian occupation forces in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) and fulfil the promises it made with the people of Jammu and Kashmir 70 years ago,” he said in a message for Kashmir Solidarity Day.
Kashmir Day: ‘India should end atrocities in Kashmir’
The Hurriyat leadership met Premier Nawaz on the eve of Kashmir Solidarity Day, urging him to take up Kashmir issue and unabated human rights violations in the occupied valley with the new UN chief.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, head of the Pakistan chapter of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) Yousaf Naseem said the unprecedented uprising in IOK had unnerved India, which was unleashing the highest order of brutality on the region’s unarmed civilians.
At a time when the situation has become extremely grave in the occupied valley and a new chief is in place at UN, Premier Nawaz should seize the initiative and take up the Kashmir issue with the secretary-general,” he said. “On this Kashmir Solidarity Day, let us resolve to leave no stone unturned to liberate Kashmir from Indian occupation.”
Naseem lauded Pakistan’s decision not to attend South Asian Speakers Summit, saying it was necessary to ‘balance the equation’ after Sartaj Aziz faced embarrassment at the hands of Indian authorities at Heart of Asia moot in Amritsar in December last year. The Hurriyat leader, however, disapproved of the move to detain Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed. “It is highly unfortunate that pro-Kashmir forces are being suppressed,” he said.
Premier Nawaz, in his statement, saluted the “sacrifices of brave and courageous Kashmiri people” and reaffirmed Pakistan’s “firm commitment to its principled stance on Jammu and Kashmir.” He said the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is an unfinished agenda of partition and remained one of the oldest disputes in the UN Security Council.
India trying to divert world's attention from Kashmir atrocities: COAS
The PM said the use of pellet guns permanently blinded more than 150 people including women and young children in IOK. “The basic human rights of the innocent people of IOK, including the right to life and peaceful assembly have been grossly violated by Indian occupation forces.”
In a separate statement, President Mamnoon Hussain said the dream for peace in the region would remain elusive until the resolution of Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the aspirations of people of IOK.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 5th, 2017.
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