Turkey urged to play role for resolution of Kashmir dispute

Istanbul University hosts two-day conference on Kashmir seeking halt to demographic changes in IOJ&K

ISLAMABAD:

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has said that the people of Pakistan and Kashmir have reposed their full trust in the Turkish leadership who have recognised the Jammu and Kashmir dispute as not a bilateral one but as an issue between Pakistan, India and the people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K).

“We urge Turkey to play a mediatory role in helping resolve this long-standing dispute,” he said while addressing the opening session of a two-day international conference on “Kashmir: Regional and International Dimensions” organised by Faculty of Letters, Istanbul University on Tuesday.

The event was attended by Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Turkey Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi, Rector Istanbul University Professor Dr Mehmut AK, Member of Turkish Parliament and Chairman Turkey-Pakistan Parliamentary Friendship Group Ali Sahin, Lord Nazir Ahmed and Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai.

President Masood expressed his deepest gratitude to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who in his address to Pakistani parliament in 2017 and 2020, had expressed strong solidarity with the people of IOJ&K and advocated a diplomatic solution for ascertaining the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination

He said that people of Kashmir are indebted to President Erdogan for raising the Kashmir issue during last year’s United Nations General Assembly in which he once again had reiterated a diplomatic resolution to the dispute and he sharply criticised India for the steps taken on 5th August that year.

People of Turkey and Kashmir, President Masood said, have a strong bond because after the devastating 2005 earthquake, Turkey helped rebuild three major AJK cities. “A deep Turkish imprint has been left on the hearts and minds of the Kashmir people.”

He was deeply moved by the comments of Ali Sahin who expressed his solidarity with the Kashmiri people by saying: “Children of Srinagar are children of Ankara. Women of Kashmir valley are the women of Anatolia. Tears of the Kashmiri mothers are the tears of Turkish mothers.”

The AJK president went on to say that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been striving for their liberty and freedom for “the past 200 years; first, during the despotic rule of the Maharaja of Kashmir and now after 1947, against India’s rule in the occupied territory”.

Since 1947, he added, 500,000 Kashmiris have been killed, thousands of women have been raped, young men and women of all ages have been blinded, people are illegally detained in concentration camps. “Since 1989, 100,000 have been killed and the killing continues as we speak today.”

President Masood said that last year on August 5 India invaded the reoccupied Kashmir and is now trying to turn it into a colony.

India, he said, has divided the occupied territory into two parts – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh – and declared them Union territories, that too without the consent of its people. “Furthermore, India has also issued fake maps showing Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and AJK as part of the Indian Union,” he lamented.

On 2nd April this year, the AJK president said, India under its colonial policy introduced New Domicile Rules whereby the people have been disenfranchised and denied their right to permanent residence, owning property, access to reserved education and employment quota.

“In a matter of days, 25,000 non-state Indians have been granted domiciles of Kashmir. The opening of these flood gates, such importation and immigration of Hindus from all over India and settling them in Kashmir to change the demographic composition of the occupied territory is akin to the model adopted in West Bank, Palestine.”

The AJK president said that India is now also threatening Pakistan with war through the use of nuclear weapons with threats of military action against AJK and G-B. “There is also a rise of Islamophobia in India which also has a direct and indirect impact on Muslims majority IOJ&K.”

Commenting on the recent clash between India and China in Galwan Valley, he said that the standoff has made the situation in IOJ&K more turbulent. China has objected to steps taken by India on August 5 and especially of making Ladakh a union territory, he said. “Because of the situation in Ladakh, Kashmir has been further internationalized.”

China, President Masood said, being a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council has helped Pakistan by facilitating the convening of three informal debates in the UNSC on Kashmir. There is also an indirect and implicit military alignment between Pakistan and China due to the threats of attack received to both these nations from India, he said.

“Due to the egregious steps taken by India there is a serious risk of war which could escalate to a nuclear level. If there is such a war it would affect not only the countries in the region but, in one way or the other, the whole world. There will be disease, death and destruction which could affect 2.5 billion people all over the world. There would be an economic recession and this war would be more dangerous than the Covid-19 pandemic.”

He further said that another power-game has started in the Asia-Pacific region and on the line of actual control where attempts have been made to encircle China. In this situation, he said, the United States would give rhetorical help to India but it would not help it militarily against China despite the statements given by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “China and India would eventually have to resort to diplomacy to defuse tensions,” he said.

Concluding his remarks, the AJK president welcomed the UN Secretary General’s remarks on Kashmir and two reports on Kashmir published by the UN Office of the Human Rights Commission but said that “these measures are not enough and more concrete steps have to be taken against India”.

He said that OIC member nations should initiate a boycott, divestment and sanction movement against India. “Immediately, import of non-Halal meat and non-Halal products can be banned.”

He added that university to university relations between institutions in Turkey with those in Pakistan and AJK should be enhanced to help develop an academic discourse on conflict resolution.

President Masood urged the Turkish leadership to explore prospects of humanitarian diplomacy in IOJ&K in the same manner they had successfully done in Somalia and the Philippines.

“Pakistan will be ready to help but Turkey should not take India's no as an answer and help the Kashmiris who are passing through the darkest hour of their history.”

He added that a Kashmir Humanitarian Fund can be established with the help of the Islamic Development Bank and Islamic Solidarity Fund.

He also thanked the Turkish people, media, political parties, academics and civil society for their continuing support to the Kashmir issue.

The AJK president also mentioned the song “My name is Kashmir”, written by Turkish writer Turgay Evren is touching, teary and heart-wrenching. “This song is evidence of the sincere support and solidarity of the Turkish people to the Kashmir people. “

He also thanked Farhan Mujahid Chak, Secretary General Kashmir Civitas, for launching Kashmir Civitas TURK which has helped reach out to a broader Turkish audience.