PM vows painful reprisal while revealing India planning to attack AJK

International community will be responsible if war breaks out between Pakistan and India, says Imran

MUZAFFARABAD:

As the global chorus of criticism of India's illegal Kashmir move rises to a crescendo, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is drawing up more sinister plans to take the spotlight off his draconian measures in the disputed region.

The Modi government robbed Jammu and Kashmir, the Himalayan state New Delhi has been occupying since 1947, of its autonomy earlier this month, setting off a storm of rage among the Kashmiri people.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has revealed that India is now planning to attack Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) to divert the global attention from Occupied Kashmir which remains in lockdown since New Delhi scrapped Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.

"This will not stop at Kashmir. This hate-filled ideology will come towards Pakistan," he said while addressing the AJK Legislative Assembly in solidarity with the Kashmiri people on the eve of Pakistan's Independence Day on Wednesday.

"We have intelligence and we have had two National Security Committee meetings. Pakistan Army has full knowledge that India has drawn up a plan to take [military] action in AJK," Imran said in his speech.

"Like the action they took in Balakot after Pulwama, according to our information, they have made a more sinister plan now," he said. "To shift the world focus away from Occupied Kashmir, they want to take action in AJK."

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However, the prime minister warned Modi against any such misadventure, promising a painful reprisal for any action. "We will respond and the whole nation would stand behind the battle-hardened Pakistan Army," he added. "Aggressive war is against Islam, but when Muslims have fought to protect their freedom, they have defeated much bigger armies."

The premier said Muslims have never bowed and would never bow their heads before anybody except Allah.

In the same vein, Imran hit out at the international community for its failure to resolve the festering dispute which has become a nuclear flashpoint in the world.

"If war breaks out in the region, the world powers and international bodies will be responsible as they have failed to implement the UN resolutions on Kashmir," he said. "The United Nations must listen to 1.5 billion Muslims who are looking up to the global body for action against India which has turned IOK into a prison for 10 million Kashmiris."

The prime minister promised to knock at the door of every global forum, including the International Court of Justice, to get support for a permanent settlement of the Kashmir dispute. Modi's move to change the status of IOK has attracted global attention and now we have to reach out to world leaders to apprise them of flagrant rights abuses in IOK, he added.

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Kashmiri diaspora is planning a demonstration outside India's diplomatic mission in London on Thursday in protest against the illegal and unconstitutional annexation of IOK by New Delhi.

"Tomorrow India will see in the streets of London how people observe India's Independence Day as black day," Premier Imran said. "The world wants to know what is happening in Kashmir and what Modi is hiding by keep the occupied region under curfew."

The prime minister said Modi has committed a huge strategic blunder by attempting to change the status of the disputed region. "We will expose India at every forum. We will go to any extent for Kashmir," he resolved.

International media and sane voices from within confirm that Hindu extremism has been on the rise since Modi's hardline nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party came to power in India.

Premier Imran said Modi's ultra-rightwing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh party has learnt from Hilter's Nazis to first organise yourself and then rule the majority. "This is what they want to do in IOK," he added. "The Indian media is now blindly following the BJP as everyone fears these Nazi-inspired forces."

The prime minister said that abrogating IOK's autonomous status was a strategic blunder of Modi which would be counterproductive for India. "The world will have to listen to the voice of Kashmiris," he said, adding that now he would be the ambassador of the Kashmiri people at global level.

‘US knew India would rob Occupied Kashmir of special status’

"Scrapping Article 370 was the last card that Modi has played and now Kashmiris will get freedom," he said. "Kashmiris are battle-hardened and Modi can never defeat them."

Imran revealed that Modi's Kashmir move has brought about a paradigm shift in his approach towards India. "Earlier I used to think that both Pakistan and India face common challenges like trade, poverty alleviation and climate change, but the IOK move shows Modi has no interest to put the region on the road to prosperity," he added.

The prime minister said BJP's entire election campaign was based on Pakistan-bashing. And now Modi has one-point agenda: to teach Pakistan a lesion. Now is the time to teach Modi's India a lesion, he added.

Premier Imran also paid rich tributes to the Quaid-i-Azam for creating Pakistan saying how visionary leader he was. "If he had not created Pakistan, then today we all would have been at the mercy of a fascist regime in India," he added.

AJK Prime Minister Farooq Haider and Opposition Leader Chaudhry Muhammad Yasin agreed that Premier Imran Khan's AJK visit would send a message to the people in Occupied Kashmir that they are not alone in their freedom struggle.