The coffin of South African former president Nelson Mandela is escorted as it arrives for the funeral ceremony in Qunu on December 15, 2013. PHOTO: AFP
The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly (AJKLA) paid great homage to former South African president and anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela in its last session of 2013 on Tuesday.
In his acknowledging remarks, former Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) prime minister and opposition leader Raja Farooq Haider said Mandela was a hero for those suffering from oppression and state terrorism.
“The people of Kashmir have great respect for the great leader Mandela and his struggle for rights and justice in South Africa,” Haider added.
The former prime minister said Mandela had called the Jammu and Kashmir dispute “a concern for all” at the September 1998 Non-Aligned Summit (NAM) in Durban. “For this, the peoples of AJK salute him. May Madiba’s soul rest in peace.”
It was the first time that the longstanding issue was highlighted at any NAM summit, he added, while talking to The Express Tribune.
It is now part of history, but the people of Kashmir on either side of the Line of Control (LoC) will never forget Mandela’s support for the right to self-determination, Raja said while acknowledging the late South African leader’s efforts.
Similarly, AJKLA Speaker Sardar Ghulam Sadiq said, “It is the time to pay homage to a leader who had raised the Kashmir dispute for the first time in the history of NAM, and the people of Kashmir will continue their struggle as Mandela did despite spending 27 years in incarceration.”
“Mandela’s struggle will continue to inspire freedom fighters across the globe,” the speaker added.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 18th, 2013.
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