AJK legislature asks India to reverse August 5 actions

Members of the Legislative Assembly of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and senior political leadership of AJK from across the aisle on Thursday unanimously passed a five-point resolution calling on India to reverse its illegal, unlawful and unjust annulment of Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution on August 5, 2019.

They re-endorsed the principled stand taken by Pakistan to link any negotiation or dialogue with India with the reversal of these actions.

The statement was issued during a luncheon hosted by President Dr Arif Alvi for the Acting President of AJK, Anwarul Haq, Prime Minister of AJK, Sardar Tanvir Ilyas, Former PM of AJK, Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, members of the AJK Legislative Assembly, and senior political leadership of AJK.

The five-point resolution called upon India to “retract its illegal move to change the demography of IIOJK by illegally issuing domiciles to over 4,200,000 non-Kashmiris and empowering them to buy Kashmiri land and conduct businesses.”

The resolution also called for putting an end to atrocities, intimidation, harassment and humiliation inflicted upon the innocent Kashmiris perpetually by the Indian Occupation Forces of over 1 million.

The resolution urged the international community, the UN, and human rights organisations to play their role to implement several UN Security Council Resolutions on Kashmir and take meaningful and decisive steps towards the holding of an impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the UN to allow the Kashmiris to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination.

The Kashmiri leadership also asked the world to take notice of the draconian restrictions and curbs imposed by India to usurp media freedoms and impose a media blackout in IIOJK, and take meaningful steps for allowing the journalists and media to perform their role of providing impartial and truthful information on the prevailing grave human rights situation in IIOJK.

The resolution called upon the leadership of both Pakistan and India to allow cross-border hassle-free movement to allow the Kashmiris of IIOJK and AJK to meet their relatives and do business.

While expressing his views during the meeting, the president said that the Government of Pakistan and the entire Pakistani leadership, irrespective of their political affiliations, were fully committed towards the Kashmir cause and would continue giving their moral, political, and diplomatic support for the inalienable right to self-determination of the Kashmiris.

He observed that there was a clear distinction between the freedom fighters and terrorists, and the Kashmiri brothers and sisters were waging a just freedom struggle by all means and angles and were sacrificing their lives for the attainment of their right to self-determination.

President Alvi regretted that the Muslim freedom movements around the world were deliberately, wrongly and unjustifiably equated with the terrorist movement, whereas other such movements were termed as just and lawful.

The president proposed that the media, being the most effective tool to convey around the world any injustice committed anywhere in the world against humanity, must also be used effectively to raise the voice and aspirations of the Kashmiris for their right to self-determination.

He said the media should also highlight the illegal, unlawful, and unjust Indian actions of August 5, 2019, which had unilaterally deprived the Kashmiris of their special status and protection which was provided to them under Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution and the human right violations committed by India with impunity.

He said that the international media should also be engaged to compare the political, economic, social, cultural and religious freedoms enjoyed by the Kashmiris in AJK and contrast it with the oppression, cruelty, humiliation and suppression of Kashmiris in IIJOK.

The president further said that the Kashmiri brethren in IIOJK had rendered innumerable sacrifices and as per estimates over 500,000 Kashmiris had embraced martyrdom, 30,000 women had been widowed, 10,000 had been raped, many had been made “half-widows”, and thousands of Kashmiris had been crippled and blinded for the rest of their lives.

He stated that their sacrifices for the just cause would not go to waste and that they would achieve their right to self-determination very soon.

The president said that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute was raised by India in the UN and consequently many resolutions of the UN Security Council promised to hold a plebiscite but unfortunately the Kashmir Dispute had not been given its proper importance as compared to other conflicts and disputes in the world.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2023.