'World must take notice of Indian threats to use nukes'

AJK president says India has been given a free pass due to its so-called strategic ties with major world powers

ISLAMABAD:

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan on Thursday said that the Kashmiri people remained committed to the pledge they had made 73 years ago on July 19, 1947, to accede their state to Pakistan, and while carrying the Pakistani flags, they are still struggling to achieve this goal.

He expressed these views while addressing the concluding session of a web conference on "Kashmir conflict, crisis and dialogue" of the Summer School 2020 Kashmir Boot Camp organised by the Centre for Security, Strategy and Policy Research (CSSPR).

The web-conference moderated by Director of the Centre Dr Rabia Akhtar was attended by over 40 students.

The AJK president said that accession of Kashmir to Pakistan was the collective aspiration of the Kashmiri people but the Maharaja of Kashmir with the connivance of the Indian government and the British colonisers sabotaged it, and attempt to annex a major part of Kashmir to India contrary to the will and aspirations of the Kashmiri people.

"After the inception of Pakistan and India, the people of AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) launched the freedom war and liberated these areas from the despotic Dogra ruler. Now both the territories are a defensive rampart for Pakistan."

President Masood said that had the Indian government not landed its forces in Srinagar in October 1947, the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir would have been liberated today.

While touching upon the situation prevailing in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), he said that the people of Kashmir had suffered tremendously for the past seven decades, but they have been under the worst military siege of Indian forces since August 5 last year.

He said that this past year has been the darkest period in the history of Jammu and Kashmir. On August 5 last year, the Indian forces imposed a military siege in IIOJK which had led to the intensification of killings, maiming, blinding and enforced disappearances within the occupied territory.

"Almost three months into the occupational lockdown, on October 31, the Indian government bifurcated, annexed and brought this internationally recognised disputed area under the direct control of New Delhi. India also issued fake maps in which they showed AJK and G-B within the geographical boundaries of the Indian federation."

Condemning India’s illegal moves, the president said that the Indian government had gone a step further by introducing the New Domicile Rules leading to an unprecedented transformation of the local demography. He said that all these steps are a violation of international laws and conventions.

The AJK president urged that India must be brought to justice for their offences it committed against humanity, war crimes, genocide and human right violations.

Last century, he said, the perpetrators of such crimes were tried and made an example but India, unfortunately, has been given a free pass due to its so-called strategic ties with major world powers.