AJK president urges France to support Kashmir struggle

France should help us determinate our political destiny, says Masood Khan

MUZADDARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has called upon President Emmanuel Macron, the people, media and intellectuals of France to support the struggling people of Kashmir so that they achieve their political goal of freedom and the right to self-determination in consonance with the ideal of French Revolution.

“The French Revolution had a tripartite motto: liberty, equality and fraternity. We in Jammu and Kashmir are also inspired by this triad, which subsumes freedom and self-determination. France should help us determinate our political destiny,” the AJK president said while speaking at a Zoom video link-conference on Kashmir in Paris.

Hosted by Pakistan’s Ambassador to France Moinul Haque, the event was attended by French journalists, academics, diplomats and human rights activists.

The event described the latest situation of Occupied Kashmir as grave and critical and said rancour against Indian occupation forces is at its peak.



President Masood said that under the garb of Covid-19, the Indian troops have intensified their repression against the Kashmiri people in a bid to suppress their spirit of freedom. Besides killing the Kashmiris, he went on to say that India has taken actions to turn the Muslims majority into a minority in the occupied region, and the recent change of domicile laws granting settlement rights to Hindus is part of the same heinous attempt.

“Impaled, Kashmiris won’t fight a full war against 900,000 troops, but they have pinned them down. The Indian troops are in a foreign, alien land but they delude themselves that they’re winning by killing."

The AJK president said that in the past one month alone, 32 Kashmiri youth in IOJ&K have been martyred while 18 occupation forces were killed. The disputed territory is turbulent, and there is no “calm” that India is projecting.

He added that the international community had enforced lockdown to prevent casualties from Covid-19, but the Indian government has locked down Kashmir to inflict casualties. "The Indian occupied troops have virtually besieged 8 million Kashmiri people, deny them access to food, education, medicines, employment and the freedom of expression."

He also said that New Delhi's action of August 5, the abolition of Articles 35-A and 370 of the constitution, and now amendment in domicile laws violated the UN Security Council resolutions, Geneva Convention and other international human rights laws. Under the UN resolution, he said, Kashmir is a disputed territory and India or Pakistan cannot unilaterally alter its status.



President Masood appealed to the world leaders, intellectuals and media to take notice of India's inhuman actions in IOJ&K and raise their voice for the solution of Kashmir issue according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people under the UN resolutions.

Inviting the participants of the conference to visit and experience by themselves the freedom enjoyed by the people of AJK, he said that India has barred media and human rights organisations to enter in IOJ&K, yet the doors of Azad Jammu and Kashmir are open for everyone.