AJK president praises expats for highlighting Kashmir cause

Sardar Masood Khan addresses delegation of diaspora community in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has praised the Pakistani-Kashmiri diaspora for playing a "highly positive role" in building awareness on the Kashmir cause in their countries of adoption following India's illegal action of abrogating the special status of its only Muslim-majority region.

He made the remarks during his address to a delegation of Pakistani-Kashmiri diaspora community in Islamabad on Monday.

The AJK president said the role played by expatriates, particularly those settled in the United States and Europe, since August 5 was "highly appreciable".

Khan said over 30,000 Pakistani and Kashmiri expatriates had demonstrated outside the UN Headquarters in New York on their own expense, adding that in contrast, "the entire expenditure of the participants of the rally held in Houston in support of Narendra Modi was provided by the Indian government."

It was a matter of great satisfaction that expatriates were financially stable and had political influence in the west, he said, adding, "Many of them have been representing their community in the US, UK and the European parliaments, and also have contacts with the decision-making institutions of these countries."

Members of the delegation including Naeem Malik, Sardar Zarif, and Nadeem Khokhar while apprising the AJK president of their activities related to Kashmir, said that the expatriates stood by their brethren in IOK in this hour of need.

The people of IOK are not alone in their struggle, they added.