AJK president welcomes third-party mediation for Kashmir dispute resolution

India trampling all international norms, says Sardar Masood Khan

MUZZAFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan said that Pakistan and the people of Jammu and Kashmir have always welcomed third-party mediation for the resolution of the dispute in the occupied valley whether it was by the United Nations or a permanent member of the Security Council.

The president made these remarks when he was asked about President Donald Trump’s statement in Washington on his willingness to mediate in Kashmir

The AJK president said that "it was regrettable that India had once again rejected an offer for mediation, this time, by the US president".

He said that India wants to confine the Jammu and Kashmir dispute to a bilateral plane and then kill it off. By declaring the international issue of Jammu and Kashmir a bilateral matter, India wants to exclude the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the key party to the dispute, and the United Nations or other actor representing the international community for the process for resolving the Kashmir dispute.

"President Trump’s announcement clearly showed that the situation in occupied Kashmir is serious and that the problem is by no means a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan alone. It is genuinely an international issue which should be resolved through the UN resolutions on Kashmir and under international law."

Khan further said that a series of reports published in 2019 on the horrendous human rights violations in IoK along with President Trump's statement have demonstrated the urgency for resolving the issue in order to stop the massacre of Kashmiris in IoK. He demanded that the population of the occupied valley should be granted justice as the continuous security lapse in IoK poses a threat to the overall regional stability.