AJK president also maintains that New Delhi’s war claims are an existential threat that cannot be taken lightly. PHOTO: EXPRESS
In a statement read out at the Kashmir Conference organised by Pakistan Institute of International Affairs (PIIA) on Wednesday, President Masood said: “India’s war rhetoric is an existential threat that cannot be taken lightly or overlooked.”
“For around 80,000 families living on this side of the Line of Control (LoC) in Azad Kashmir, 2019 was the worst year with over 60 civilian killed and 300 seriously injured or disabled,” he added.
Referring to the grim situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), the AJK president said that the entire territory has been under lockdown and communication blockade for the past 179 days. "Some 900,000 Indian forces have invaded and laid siege to the territory on August 5 last year."
He went on to say that entire pro-freedom leadership is under detention, thousands of young men have been abducted by the occupation forces and according to the Indian sources they are being kept in concentration camps.
These camps, he also said, are reminiscent of the concentration camps that were set up by Adolf Hitler in the last century to annihilate Jews, Romanis and political opponents.
Lamenting on the fact that women and girls of Occupied Kashmir are being fetishised by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and RSS apparatchiks, President Masood said that armed death squads of the Sangh Parivar and Bajrang Dal are prowling in Jammu threatening Muslims while young men are being killed every day in cordon and search operations.
“We are witnessing the most heinous humanitarian crisis in the world. The Genocide Watch has issued an alert warning that IOK has entered the eighth (out of 10) stage of genocide and the next two stages are annihilation and denial,” he said.
While highlighting the world's reaction to the India’s illegal move in the disputed territory, he said the reaction was mixed as the mainstream international media, world parliaments and parliamentarians, civil society activists and human rights organisations have condemned the Indian actions.
Kashmiris will turn AJK into graveyard of Indian army if attacked: Masood
“China, Turkey, Malaysia, Iran, Germany, Sweden and Finland as well as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have openly castigated the India’s unlawful measures and its scorched earth policy, however, other powerful nations – especially Western governments – have yet to directly ask New Delhi to step back and lift its military lockdown which has further emboldened India.”
About the most recent development at the international level, President Masood said: "Recently, the European Parliament has moved six resolutions in which its members – recalling UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir – have called for their implementation by holding a referendum to determine the will of the Kashmiri people."
Expressing reservation over offers of bilateral talks or back-door diplomacy, he said that unless India first restores the previous status of the Himalayan region and reverses its steps taken on August 5 and October 31 last year, sitting across the table from India would be "lethal because that would be tantamount to acquiescence in and, in fact, endorsement of India’s illegitimate actions".
The president also highlighted the importance of think tanks and policy forums like PIIA that should make a transition from understanding of the phenomena of Hindutva and the BJP’s irredentism to developing proactive strategies that can help the state of Pakistan and the people of Jammu and Kashmir to outmanoeuvre India in the international realm as well as on the ground.
“We should ensure full military preparedness, both at the level of the armed forces and in fact the entire nation, for giving befitting responses to Indian adventurism,” he said, adding that military pincer should work with the political, diplomatic and communication pincers.
Linking success of the Kashmir’s freedom struggle with economic prosperity of Pakistan, President Masood said that without an economic robust of Pakistan and AJK, dream of Kashmir’s liberation from Indian subjugation cannot be materialised.
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