ISLAMABAD, Aug 05 (APP): President Azad Kashmir (AJK) Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry said that despite its jackboot tactics India had miserably failed to suppress Kashmiris’s spirit and their legitimate struggle for right to self-determination.
Talking to the media on Friday, the president while terming the 5th August move of the government of India as an atrocious assault on the Kashmiris’ ethno-cultural identity said that the Indian motive behind this move was to put an end to Kashmir issue but they miserably failed in its designs.
Today, he said, the Kashmir issue had more resonance at international level as compared to what it had before the 5th August, 2019.
Highlighting the dangerous designs of the BJP government, the president said that the situation in the held territory had deteriorated after India revoked article 370 and 35 A of the Indian constitution.
“After August 5, the BJP has intensified its efforts to change the region’s demography”, he said, adding that since then the occupant authorities had issued more than 240,000 fake domiciles to non-Kashmir resident people.
Referring to political and administrative machinations of the Modi government, he said the BJP wanted to install a Hindu Chief minister in Occupied Kashmir by changing the electoral map of Kashmir.
Regarding the ruthless suppression of dissent in the valley, the president said that suppression of democratic dissent over the past three years has led to arbitrary arrests and detention of Kashmiri leaders and workers. “A number of Kashmiris including top rank Hurriyat leaders have been arrested and left to rot in jails away from their homeland”, he said.
Voicing his concern over the continued bloodshed and violence in the Indian occupied Kashmir, Barrister Chaudhary said that there was dire need to sensitize world community about the early and amicable solution of the Kashmir dispute that has been the main cause of tension and consequence of rights violations in the region.
The president said that he held a series of demonstrations within and outside the country including the UK, Brussels and other countries to draw the attention of the world towards the serious situation in Occupied Kashmir.
On moving the international court of justice (ICJ) over Kashmir, the president said, “Only a member country of the forum can raise the issue at the ICJ”. “I request the government of Pakistan to move the International Court of Justice for the release of Yasin Malik and the serious violations of human rights being committed by the Indian forces in Occupied Kashmir”.
He said that as the UN General Assembly meeting was approaching all efforts would be taken to draw the attention of the international community to the Kashmir issue.
In response to a query, he said that former Prime Minister Imran Khan had adopted a strong policy on Kashmir and “my request to the federal government is that it should also adopt a strong policy on the issue” . “We wish Pakistan to be strong because a strong and stable Pakistan is the guarantor of Kashmir’s freedom”, the president said.
In response to another query, he said there can be no compromise on the financial and executive powers of Azad Kashmir.
On this occasion, government ministers Chaudhry Akhlaq and Chaudhry Maqbool were also present.
