India pursuing policy of expansionism, webinar told

By Bureau report
August 05, 2020

PESHAWAR: Speakers at a webinar here on Tuesday said that India was pursuing a policy of extremism and expansionism to establish Hindutva and the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A reflected that mindset. They were speaking at the webinar titled “The Unfolding Situation in Kashmir after 5th August 2019” organized by the China Study Centre, University of Peshawar. Many renowned experts addressed the issue. In his welcome address, China Study Centre Director Prof Dr Zahid Anwar said that Pakistan always tried to resolve the issue of Kashmir through peaceful means as it was the unfinished agenda of the partition.

Advertisement

He added that the Indian government threatened regional peace and stability by abrogating the special status of Occupied Kashmir. Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry in his keynote address thanked China Study Centre, University of Peshawar, for organizing the webinar on such an important issue. He said that India had colonized Kashmir and had broken the promise of self-determination to the people of Kashmir it made almost 70 years ago. India has the sinister design to bring demographic change in Kashmir and to turn Muslim majority into a minority there, he said, adding that the people of Pakistan had no choice but to stand with the people of Kashmir. “Pakistan has always diplomatically, morally and politically supported the people of Kashmir. The international community is taking notice of the Indian atrocities against the people of Kashmir, UN, US, European Union, Turkey, Iran and Malaysia are expressing their frustration against what India is doing to the people of Kashmir,” he added.

Senior journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai said that Kashmir issue was very important but it was not being resolved due to Indian actions in the last 72 years. “India is a big market despite that international community is raising voice about Indian atrocities against Kashmiri people,” he said, adding that Pakistan should continue its effort to resolve the Kashmir conflict. He added that India was creating problems for Pakistan in Baluchistan, former tribal areas and in Karachi.

Hasan Daud Butt, CEO, KPBIT in his speech said that economic development of Azad Jammu and Kashmir would raise the living standard of the Kashmiris on this side of the Line of Control. Prof Dr Razia Sultana, Vice-Chancellor Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Peshawar, said that Kashmir issue was 72 year old, but the international community had ignored it. She said that Pakistan stood by the Kashmiris in their struggle to get the right to self-determination.

Prof Dr Nazir Hussain, Quid-e-Azam University in his talk focused on the situation in Indian held Kashmir and the policy of government of Pakistan. India came into being on the basis of secularism, but the present government was making it a fundamentalist Hindu state. “There are many insurgency movements in India. Indian brutal force failed to subdue the freedom struggle in Kashmir,” he said, adding that the resilience of Kashmiris against Indian occupation and suppression was a ray of hope.

Advertisement