Niger urged to raise Kashmir issue at African Union forum

Niger has always supported demands of Kashmiris on the OIC platform, says AJK president

MUZAFFARABAD:

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has called upon Niger, a founding member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), to raise the Kashmir issue at the forum of African Union (AU) to build pressure on India for resolution of Kashmir conflict in accordance with UN resolutions.

Talking to media after arriving in Niger's Niamey to attend the 47th meeting of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers, Masood said that the brotherly Islamic country of Niger has always supported the demands of Kashmiris at the OIC platform.

The country, he added, had played a leading role on the platform of the OIC and its contact group on Kashmir and always reaffirmed its unequivocal support for the legitimate and just demands of Kashmiris for their right to self-determination.

"Being the host of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers, we rightly expect the Niger leadership to take a firm stand on all issues of the Muslim Ummah, including Kashmir," he said.

The people of Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir want a peaceful political and diplomatic solution to the long-standing issue of Jammu and Kashmir in line with the UN Security Council resolutions, he asserted.

Saying that Pakistan has always raised Kashmir issue in various multilateral forums of the world including OIC seeking a peaceful political and diplomatic solution to this conflict, AJK president said India, unfortunately, pursuing a military solution and was implementing a vicious plan in Kashmir and wants to eliminate the Kashmiris in the next one to two years.

“The situation in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir has changed radically since August 5 last year as 900,000 occupation forces have laid siege to the entire occupied state, innocent people are being killed, youths are arrested and tortured in jails and those who speak for freedom, liberty right to self-determination are being blinded with the fire of lethal pellet guns."

The AJK president said that non--Kashmiri Hindu population was being transferred from the different parts of India to the Kashmir to change the demography of the region. He pointed out that these demographic changes are contrary to international laws and amount to war crimes. In addition to grabbing the land of Kashmiris, the plan is also aimed at to turn Kashmir's Muslim majority into a minority.

He went on to say that more than 2.3 million Indians have been resettled in the occupied valley in the last few months and if India is not stopped, it will turn the Muslim majority population of Occupied Jammu and Kashmir into a minority within the next one to two years.

Answering various questions posed by media persons, Masood said that India is not only oppressing Kashmiris who are struggling for freedom and right to self-determination but is also involved in acts of terrorism in Pakistan.

Pakistan, he said, has recently provided irrefutable proof of India’s sponsorship of terrorism in AJK, Gilgit-Baltistan and other regions of Pakistan to the UN Secretary-General and the permanent members of the UN Security Council.