MUZAFFARABAD: The children of the martyrs of the Kashmir liberation movement visited the graveyard in an attempt to seek the attention of the US president, towards excessive killings in Kashmir due to non-settlement of the Kashmir dispute.
The state’s largest graveyard, where renowned leaders and workers of the Kashmir liberation movement, including Mirvaiz Yousaf Shah, the uncle of APHC leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and former president of Azad Kashmir (AJK) are buried, orphans of the Kashmir conflict spoke against atrocities in held Kashmir. The event was organised by the Sawera Education Foundation.
Speakers said that for the past six decades, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been suffering brutalities and severe hardships under Indian subjugation.
“The children are the worst victims of the conflict. They are growing under the shadow of horror, which has exposed a majority of the people to serious psychological disorders. Parents of thousands of children have been either killed or disabled,” one of the speakers said, adding that several others were either missing or languishing in torture cells. “Thousands of them are living as refugees in miserable conditions. The continuous carnage in Indian occupied territory is multiplying the number of orphans and psychologically-affected children.”
Criticising the role of the world community, they said that Indian despotism and international community’s inaction has pushed the youth of Kashmir against the wall. “The youth have run out of patience and has been compelled to come out onto the streets; infuriated, defiant and rendering sacrifices for their rights, they are seeking nothing but justice.”
Mentioning the cease-fire line called the Line of Control under the Shimla agreement of 1994, a speaker said that families living in the divided Jammu and Kashmir are separated from each other.
More than three million people of the divided families live on both sides of the LoC, another speaker said.
“Despite being the children of a conflict zone, we have come up as ambassadors of peace. We crave for peace and prosperity of the people of the subcontinent. We want to see an environment conducive to the better living of the South Asian people”
They observed that the education system in held Kashmir has almost collapsed over the past five months..
They welcomed the US president’s visit to India and expressed the hope that he would realise the sufferings of the Kashmiri people and force India to accept their right to self-determination.
“We believe that tomorrow is a historical day for Jammu Kashmir, the US President is visiting India. We welcome him on his tour to South Asia and request him to visit Pakistan. This visit shall prove beneficial for both countries. We hope that the Nobel laureate will talk to Indian leadership about the resolution of the Kashmir dispute. The dispute is a threat to peace and prosperity in South Asia. We call upon the US president to encourage and engage India and Pakistan in fruitful negotiations to break the deadlock and find an amicable solution to the lingering dispute in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 6th, 2010.
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