‘India pushing region to brink of war’

AJK president says the flame of liberty will not be snuffed out by India imperialism

MUZAFFARABAD:

Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan has said that Indian rulers through their warmongering, ceasefire violations and threats to attack AJK and Pakistan are pushing the region to the brink of war.

In a message on completion of one year of the Modi government’s illegal action of August 5, the AJK president said: “This past year, the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), have suffered most grievously. On August 5 last year, 900,000 Indian occupational forces invaded Kashmir and re-occupied it. Since then they have been brutalising the people and colonising the territory.”

The Indian forces, he said, have killed hundreds of young men, incarcerated thousands of boys and children and forcibly disappeared Kashmiris. “All pro-freedom leaders are under Illegal detention. Concentration camps have been set up in the IIOJK and India to force political activists to discard their quest for liberty. The occupied territory’s economy has been ruined.”

He said late last year, India illicitly bifurcated the disputed territory into two parts and declared that they would be ruled by New Delhi, without the consent of the people.

“In another sinister move this year, India has launched massive transfer of Hindus from across the country to settle them in the occupied territory in order to change the demographic composition of the state. This is a flagrant violation of the 4th Geneva Convention and international law.”

President Masood also said that the scale at which “these atrocities are going on have been rightly called genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes”.

He added: "Kashmiris are being exterminated, they are being made aliens in their own land, homeless in their own homeland.” He went on to say that full-fledged aggression against Kashmiris is driven by the Neo-Fascist Hindutva doctrine and settler colonialism as “we see a replication of Nazi policies in the disputed territory”.

Referring to the reaction of the global community over illegal actions of India on August 5 last, the AJK president expressed his deep gratitude to the international media, world parliaments, international civil society and human rights organisations for calling out India’s revolting and despicable crimes against humanity and for speaking  up for the oppressed and besieged Kashmiris.

However, he regretted that with the exception of China, Turkey, Malaysia, Iran and West European countries, the response of the most powerful nations have been disappointing and faltering.

They have not fulfilled their obligations to save Kashmiris and to stop a drift towards turbulence in the region, he added.

“We thank the Organisation of Islamic Conference for its strong solidarity with the Kashmiris; and the periodic statements issued by the UN leadership. But this is not enough. We demand action.

“We salute unarmed but valiant Kashmiris for their resilience in the face of India’s scorched-earth policy and their resolve to resist Indian colonialism and foreign occupation. We are with them until, together, we repulse the Indian invasion and wrestle down the monster of Hindutva which is feeding on Kashmiri lives and rights.”

President Masood appealed to the international community, especially the United Nations, to step forward and “help us liberate the people of IIOJK. Otherwise, it would be too late. An entire people will be disenfranchised, dispossessed, displaced and destroyed altogether”.

Kashmiris, he said, are determined to win freedom and self-determination as promised to them by the United Nations under any circumstance. “The flame of liberty will not be snuffed out by India imperialism.”