AJK president urges Biden to play role in resolving Kashmir conflict

United States must take notice of India's war crimes in Occupied Kashmir, says Masood Khan

MUZAFFARABAD:

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan, while greeting the US President-elect, Joe Biden over his election victory, has expressed the hope that the United States being an important member of the UN Security Council, will play an active role under his able leadership to get the massacre of Kashmiri people stopped and to save the occupied territory from becoming an Indian colony.

Commenting on Biden's victory, Sardar Masood Khan hoped that while upholding his previous stand, the US president-elect besides raising his voice against the discriminatory laws against the Muslims and other minorities of India as well as the worst human rights in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, would play his role in granting Kashmiris the right to self-determination and will help Pakistan and the Kashmiri people in finding a durable and just solution to the Kashmir issue.

He maintained that Pakistan and the Kashmiri people would welcome mediation by the United States or any other country for the settlement of Kashmir issue provided this mediation is supervised by the United Nations, and the Kashmiri people are its part.

The AJK president recounted that in 1950s, the United States while supporting the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people, had played an important role in the approval of the UN Security Council resolution on Kashmir. “We expect the same role from the US today. The resolution of Kashmir conflict is imperative because this issue has posed a major threat to the peace and security of the region and its resolution in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people may usher in a new era of development and progress in South Asia," he added.

On the whole, he asserted that the resolution of Kashmir issue would be a prelude towards the global people, and the big powers particularly the United States should not shut their eyes towards this conflict and the related dangers.

The AJK president said that after ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri people, war crimes being committed by the Indian troops, and discriminatory treatment of the Narendra Modi regime against minorities particularly the Muslims, the international community would have to come out of the misperception that India is the world's largest democracy.

"The United States is the champion of democracy and civil liberties, and it cannot be expected that Washington, while preferring its economic and political interests, will compromise on the basic human rights of the Kashmiri people, their right to self-determination and their equal democratic rights," he added.

Sardar Masood Khan said that the actions taken by India in the disputed territory of Kashmir since August 5 last year, violate the UN resolutions as well as international laws, and it is incumbent upon the international community particularly the United States to take notice of these war crimes.