India seeking 'Balfour Declaration like arrangement in Kashmir’: AJK president

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has cautioned that India was on the path to implement within two to three years a Balfour Declaration like arrangement which had taken more than a century for its full implementation.

The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British government in 1917 during the World War I, announcing support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small minority Jewish population.

The AJK president made the statement during his visit to the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Pakistan Headquarters at Mansoora. Those who welcomed the state president on his arrival included the JI Ameer Sirajul Haque, Naib Ameer Prof Mohammad Ibrahim, Secretary-General Amir Al-Azeem, Deputy Secretary-General Muhammad Asghar, Deputy Secretary General Fareed Ahmed Paracha and Ameer JI Lahore district Zikrullah Mujahid.

While addressing a big gathering on the occasion, the AJK president eulogised the concerted efforts and the ideological clarity of the JI leadership on the Kashmir issue as well as the efforts of its sister organisation, Tahreek-e-Kashmir working for Kashmir cause in the UK and other major European capitals.

While dealing at length with the latest situation in Occupied Kashmir, Sardar Masood Khan asserted that laws are being modified under a policy of lebensraum in order to illegally "legalise" the lands grabbed in the held territory under the garb of so-called national interest.

He said that India is on a fast track, bringing in hundreds of thousands of Hindus from all over India. The unique identity and population of Kashmir is being permanently altered. Genocide is being carried out in IIOJK. According to the definition given in the Genocide Convention, the only area in the world where genocide is taking place is Occupied Kashmir.

Saying that Pakistan is incomplete without Kashmir and Kashmir has its identity rooted in Pakistan, the state president said that even the martyrs in IIOJK are buried with the flag of Pakistan. "They wanted to join Pakistan in 1947 and they, till this day, yearn to accede to Pakistan," he added.

Terming bilateralism as a ruse, he said India has always hoodwinked the international community and deceived the Kashmiris by beating the drum of bilateral talks, and warned that dialogues will never be successful until and unless the Kashmiris are made part of the process.

"We must not pass the buck around and take it up as it is our sacred duty to achieve liberty and freedom for our brothers and sister in Occupied Kashmir," he said, adding that we have to make a massive impact by politically mobilising political parties and citizens in the country.

Masood said, "You must realise that India has threatened to annihilate Pakistan and there exists an existential threat to the security and integrity of Pakistan. We should be ready for war and we must keep in mind that India has already imposed a war on us."

About Gilgit-Baltistan, the state president expressed the confidence that the issue will be resolved with consensus, and no step will be taken that alters the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir.

He praised JI for spreading the message of Islam and also making Pakistan strong and stable by advocating the ideology of Pakistan.

On the occasion of Rabiul Awwal, the president paid glowing tribute to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), saying that he was a leader, military tactician, jurist and social reformist par excellence.

He said that the recent blasphemous and hate-mongering remarks by French President Emanuel Macron are a planned attempt to flare up violence and Islamophobia.

However, he maintained that two billion Muslims are a great force who should unite and unanimously boycott France. He said that Islam offers a universal system of human rights, social support, love and tolerance.

He added that our responsibilities are not limited to our neighbourhood, town or country, but it is our responsibility to spread the true teachings of Islam around the world.