India wants to sabotage CPEC: AJK president

LAHORE

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has said that India has launched a drive to sabotage China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and China and Russia must convince India not to make such efforts to derail the project and realise her benefits of CPEC. 

Addressing the inaugural session of a two-day international conference “Kashmir in Focus: Avoiding Conflict and Quest for Peace” at Punjab University (PU) here on Tuesday, he said AJ&K was now a part of CPEC project under which power projects and an industrial zone would be set up at different places.

Punjab University Pakistan Study Centre (PSC) is organising the conference. Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Zafar Mueen Nasir, Dr Hassan Askari Rizvi, Moonis Ahmer, Dr Qi Huaigao, Dr Lu Yang, renowned journalist from Indian-held Kashmir Murtaza Shibli, PSC Director Prof Dr Massarrat Abid, Registrar Prof Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan, researchers, academicians, political leaders from China, Pakistan and Kashmir, faculty members and a large number of students were present on the occasion. 

The AJK president said Kashmiris would protect their right to self-determination at any cost and would continue to fight for freedom. He said Kashmiris must be given right to self-determination as per UN resolutions. He said India was terming the freedom movement terrorism while the fifth generation in Indian-held Kashmir was sacrificing lives for their right to decide their future. He said Kashmir Movement was peaceful like Pakistan Movement. He said Indian atrocities in Indian-held Kashmir could not be described in words. He said Indian forces had a licence to kill and mass blinding was also going on. Kashmir was guarantor of Pakistan’s security and economic stability and Pakistan was incomplete without Kashmir, he added. 

Sardar Masood Khan went on to say that India wanted Kashmir issue to be no more a core agenda between the two countries and added that Kashmir issue was trilateral, not bilateral and Kashmiris were the most important stakeholders. He said Kashmir issue was not being resolved only because we were Muslims. He said we must move forward to resolve Kashmir issue with utmost confidence. He said India could neither attack, nor defeat Pakistan in traditional or nuclear war but it had badly defeated Pakistan on communication front. He said Indian-American community had influenced important stakeholder and Pakistan must improve its diplomatic efforts to fight their propaganda. He urged media, think tank and academic institutions to play their role for countering Indian propaganda. 

PU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Zafar Mueen Nasir said academic institutions must take lead to find the solution to Kashmir issue which was acceptable for all and China must play active role in this regard. He said economic development was a must to face major challenges being faced by the country. 

Prof Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi said peace in South Asia was linked to resolution of Kashmir issue. He said it was not a territorial dispute but a question of right to self-determination. He said war and militancy were not the solution to Kashmir issue while international community was also not taking interest in the matter. He said we must highlight human rights violations in Kashmir and delink Kashmiris’ freedom movement from a terrorist movement. He said we must inform international community about the Kashmir issue facts. He said we must spread the cause at national and societal level. 

Moonis Ahmer said India had turned a piece of heaven into the biggest jail on earth. He said political parties in India wanted to repeal article 370 of its Constitution in which Kashmir had been given special autonomous status. He said Kashmir was the test case for Indian secularism. He said India wanted to repeal article 370 to absorb Kashmir. 

Presenting research paper on significance of peaceful Kashmir for regional development, Dr Qi Huaigao said peaceful Kashmir would bring prosperity, strengthen industrial sector, eliminate povertyand improve life standard of Kashmiri people. He said India must adopt open attitude towards CPEC and soft border approach could put aside disputes. 

Presenting her research on China-India-Pakistan and the CPEC, Dr Lu Yang said CPEC was an open opportunity for all. She said the central policy point of South Asian countries was economic development. 

Murtaza Shibli said the martyrdom of Burhan-uddin Wani had staged a new turn in the freedom movement. He said international community was not supporting Kashmiri people and they had turned a blind eye to atrocities in Kashmir. He said Kashmiris rejected all types of terrorism and their movement was peaceful. The conference would continue on Wednesday (today).