India can’t mislead world by holding sham elections in IIOJ&K: AJK president

ISLAMABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry on Thursday said that India cannot mislead the world about Kashmir by holding so-called elections in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K) under the strict supervision of a million troops deployed in the region.

He expressed these views while talking to the President of Kashmir Peace Forum International Europe, Zahid Iqbal Hashmi, and others who called on him.Barrister Chaudhry said that the sham polls cannot be a substitute for the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination. He further said that the people of Kashmir, who rendered matchless sacrifices for the noble cause of freedom, would never compromise on their rights.

“Nothing short of the right to self-determination can satisfy their political aspirations,” the AJK president said, adding that let India know that it cannot suppress the Kashmiris’ spirit and their passion for freedom by the dint of force.

He said that the Kashmiri diaspora has an important role to expose the Indian government’s nefarious designs in the region. “The Kashmiri community settled abroad should unite and raise their voice to highlight the issue of Kashmir at the global level,” he added.

Barrister Chaudhry said that the Indian government had unleashed a reign of terror in the IIOJ&K, adding that the Modi-led fascist regime was hell bent on installing a Hindu chief minister in the state to push forward its Hindutva agenda in the region.

He said that the Indian government’s attempt to hold bogus elections in the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir was meant to hoodwink the international community about Kashmir.“The so-called elections, which are aimed at maintaining status-quo, do not offer a solution to the Kashmir problem,” the AJK president said, adding that the lasting solution to the Kashmir problem lies in referendum supposed to be held under the UN auspices.