‘Freedom can neither be attained nor maintained without ending prejudices’

AJK president says India has waged war on several fronts


Our Correspondent October 25, 2019
AJK president says India has waged war on several fronts. PHOTO: FILE

MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has said that freedom can neither be attained nor maintained without ending prejudices and bias because “nations are built by not promoting prejudices but ending these ills”.

"If Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) had exercised prejudice and bias (May Allah forbid), Islam would have been confined to Makkah and Medina today and the number of Muslims across the world would never have touched 2 billion," he added.

Addressing launching of two books Meezan-e-Zeest and Azad Jammu Kashmir Constitution (in historical backdrop) authored by former AJK chief justice Syed Manzoorul Hassan Gilani in Muzaffarabad on Thursday, he regretted that the culture of book writing and reading had almost diminished in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir though book writing is a “laborious job and it requires energy and resources”.

He paid great tributes to the author for writing not one but two books despite resource constraint.

Alvi calls for resolving Kashmir dispute 'justly, peacefully'

He said in one book, Justice Gilani had made the constitution a document understandable for the common man, and has also facilitated the masses in understanding balance among the three state pillars i.e. judiciary, legislative and executive in terms of their rights and obligations.

"The book will certainly facilitate in implementing and enforcing constitution and law in the state and will help the common citizens to have access to justice," he added.

Referring to the situation prevailing in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), the AJK president regretted that “we could not help our brothers and sisters in disputed territory in getting the Indian siege and curfew lifted despite passage of 82 days”.

He added, "Our fight against India is on several fronts. On one hand it outrages dignity of our brethren in Occupied Kashmir and on the other it engages us in the UN Security Council and Financial Action Task Force (FATF), but our struggle will continue and we are determined to carry on our struggle till the realisation of our goal.”

‘Indian media fanning war hysteria’

Commenting on the views expressed by a speaker on the occasion, President Masood explained that Azad Kashmir was liberated by not the tribesmen but the local inhabitants who had directly fought the Dogra Army. However, he asserted that after the independence, the tribal people had helped us in foiling Indian attempts to capture AJK.

He said in 1947 some people were not involved in the liberation war of Azad Kashmir, but the same people are now writing new chapters of the history of Kashmir freedom struggle, and we salute them.

Organised by Azad Jammu and Kashmir University, the function was also addressed by Chief Justice AJK Supreme Court Mohammad Ibrahim Zia, Chief Justice High Court Tabassum Aftab Alvi, Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Kalim Abbasi, former Federal Minister Dr Zafarullah Khan, prominent scholar Ahmed Javed, Dr Abdul Karim, Arif Bihar, Allama Jawad Jafri and others.

They paid glowing tributes to Justice Gilani particularly for competitive studies of political evolution in both AJK and Occupied Kashmir, different important verdicts of AJK judiciary, state's concern with Pakistan, and other relevant issues.

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