Call for raising voice against conviction of Yasin Malik

JKSM chief says India will eliminate all pro-freedom leaders if we remain silent

ISLAMABAD:

Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement (JKSM) Chairman and Hurriyat leader Altaf Ahmed Bhat has said that the August 5, 2019 action was the same as Indian aggression in 1947 that changed the internationally recognised status of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and it was now consolidating its hold in various ways also justifying their illegal occupation.

He expressed these views at a conference titled "Hamara Kashmir Hamara Pakistan" at the Poonch University Rawalakot, organised by Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS).

Bhat said the government and educational institutions in all provinces including AJK and G-B should play their role in promoting the narrative of Pakistaniat."If we do not stand up today against the tactics adopted by India to silent Yasin Malik, it will eliminate all pro-freedom leaders one by one in IIOJK tomorrow,” he said. He said India has imposed economic blockade to weaken the IIOJK freedom movement leaders and people.

He said that India has begun the process of systematic depletion of all-natural resources in IIOJK. He said that India had renamed all the radio stations of Jammu and Kashmir after All India Radio. “The July 13, which was Martyrs' Day, has also been removed from the official calendar of IIOJK. India has given Kashmir domicile to 1.5 lakh non-Kashmiri Hindus. Now all the universities in IIOJK are directly controlled by India from Dehli. All Kashmiri civil services officers in Kashmir are being dumped in remote areas of India and non-Kashmiri officers are posted there. Srinagar Press Club is run at the behest of the Indian Army,” Bhat said.

Former Prime Minister of AJK Sardar Atiq Ahmed Khan said that many illegal steps have been taken by the Indian government in IIOJK but the rulers of Pakistan and AJK have failed to counter them.

There is no room for any third option. He said that he would raise the slogan of ‘Kashmir Banay Ga Pakistan’ but he respects all those who raise the slogan of Kashmir will become independent.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2022.