Pakistan urged to highlight Kashmir issue internationally

Kashmiri leaders say Pakistan should adopt aggressive policy to send strong message to people in IIOJ&K

ISLAMABAD:

Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement (JKSM) Chairman and senior Hurriyat leader Altaf Ahmed Bhat has said that although the government of Pakistan has always made the Kashmir dispute a priority in the past, after August 5, 2019, India had committed many illegal and immoral acts in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K) which have not been properly highlighted by Islamabad at the global level.

“There will be far-reaching interests, but no concrete progress has been made by the Pakistani government other than speeches to stop India's illegal actions in IIOJ&K. I do not want Pakistan to go to war with India but steps can be taken beyond the war to draw the attention of the world powers towards IIOJ&K,” he said this while addressing a youth convention organised by Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.

Bhat said after August 5, 2019, the Indian government was trying its best to convert the Muslim majority of IIOJ&K into a Hindu majority. “It seems that Pakistan's political leadership has become indifferent to the Kashmir issue. Azad Jammu and Kashmir former prime minister Sardar Attique Ahmad said the people of IIOJ&K must be given the right to self-determination.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2022.