Leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, Sheikh Dr Humam Hamoudi and AJK President Sardar Masood Khan address joint press conference. PHOTO: SABAH
Speaking to the media after holding a meeting with AJK President Sardar Masood Khan at Aiwan-e-Sadr here on Tuesday, he urged the international community to play its role in putting an end to human rights violations being committed by India in the Occupied Kashmir, and to help the Kashmiri people get their internationally recognised right to self-determination.
Highlighting the importance of talks between Pakistan and India for the resolution of all issues including Kashmir, Dr Hamoudi said that durable peace was inevitable for development, prosperity and stability of the region. He maintained that the people of the picturesque valley had suffered enough due to the longstanding dispute.
Leader of the Iraqi parliamentary delegation said that his government desired enhanced bilateral cooperation with Pakistan and Azad Kashmir in different sectors including education, health and energy.
Iraq supports Pakistan’s stance on lingering Kashmir dispute
Earlier talking to the visiting Iraqi parliamentary delegation, the AJK president asserted that the Indian occupation forces, in violation of all international laws and established human values, were busy in perpetrating a reign of state terror against defenseless, peaceful and innocent citizens of the Occupied Kashmir.
The India forces have martyred more than 100,000 Kashmiri people since 1989. Of them, 7,000 people were tortured to martyrdom in custody.
Sardar Masood Khan said that due to brutalities of the Indian military, more than 22,000 Kashmiri women had widowed, and 100,000 children orphaned. “Over 11,000 women have also been molested by Indian troops,” he added. President Masood maintained that 8,000 unmarked graves have been traced in different parts of the occupied valley, where the Kashmiri youth, martyred in fake encounters, had been buried.
The AJK president said that 990 innocent Kashmiri people have been martyred in the latest wave of barbarism in the Occupied Kashmir in place since the martyrdom of prominent freedom fighter Burhan Wani on July 8, 2016. “The Indian military is intentionally using pellet guns to turn the Kashmiri youth blind, and more than 10,000 men, women and youth have lost their eyesight during the last three years.”
Sardar Masood Khan regretted that on the one hand, India was ruthlessly killing the Kashmiri people through the worst state terrorism while on the other, it was declaring their peaceful freedom struggle as terrorism to hoodwink the international community.
“Under a preplanned strategy, India is bent upon changing the demography of the held territory so as to turn in its favour the results of plebiscite if it compels to hold under the global pressure,” said the AJK president, adding that, “For this purpose, the Indian government wants to introduce amendments in its constitution to abolish the special status of the Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.”
He thanks and appreciated Sheikh Hamoudi for supporting the principled strand of Pakistan and the AJK government on the Kashmir issue.
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