'Modi's actions have galvanised Kashmir freedom struggle'

AJK President Sardar Masood Khan addresses flag-hoisting ceremony to mark Independence Day

MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan on Wednesday hit out at Indian premier Narendra Modi, saying New Delhi's strong-arm tactics would only galvanise the Kashmir freedom struggle.

Khan was addressing a flag-hoisting ceremony in Muzaffarabad to mark Independence Day.

"The collision course Modi has set out on will be brought to its logical conclusion by the Kashmiri people," the AJK president said. "They [Kashmiri people] are not alone right now, Indian atrocities have only boosted their morale."

He said the people of Kashmir were determined to defeat Modi government's "fascism".

"Modi should learn a lesson from those who thought Pakistan would not last more than three months after its independence," he said.

Pakistan and Kashmir, Khan said, were inseparable.

"The revocation of Articles 370 and 35-A, as well as, the deployment of 700,000 troops in IOK, is an assault on the existence and security of Pakistan," the AJK president said.

He said India wanted to cut off IOK from the rest of the world with the information blockade enforced there.

The AJK president called on the international community to take notice of Indian atrocities in the Himalayan valley.

"Modi had played a well designed trick to turn the IOK into an Indian colony and to change its demography," he said. "India has been cheating Pakistan and the Kashmiri people under the label of talks for last seven decades, and it has also deceived those who had been protecting Indian interests while living among the Kashmiri people."