JI leader asks govt to convene APC

PESHAWAR: Terming the Pulwama attack a reaction to the Indian state terrorism in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, provincial chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan on Friday asked the government to convene an All Parties Conference (APC) forthwith in the wake of India’s threats so that a strong message could be given to New Delhi and the international forums.

“The government approach to the issue is very weak. It should come out of political point-scoring and develop consensus on the issue,” he said during a press conference.

Flanked by JI’s deputy chief and former senior minister Inayatullah Khan, provincial president of JI youth Siddiqur Rahman Paracha and others, Mushtaq Ahmad stressed the need for constituting a parliamentary delegation of all parties and sending it to friendly countries and permanent and non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to plead the Kashmir case effectively.

The JI leader flayed the government for banning the Jamaatud Dawa and its charity wing, Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation.

“It is a wrong decision at the wrong time. It would weaken the case of Pakistan and provide an opportunity to India to mount more pressure on us,” he argued.

Mushtaq Ahmad said the government should use the existing consensus among political forces and people on Kashmir issue and make every effort to expose the Indian atrocities.

He said the people of Kashmir have not accepted Indian occupation even for a single day during the last 70 years. The way the Kashmiris have bravely faced the Indian brutalities is matchless, he said.

He said India was targeting Kashmiris irrespective of their age, gender and status. “During the last year, at least 350 PhDs were killed in Kashmir.

Over 100,000 houses were demolished and around 10,000 Kashmiris were killed,” Mushtaq Ahmad claimed.

He maintained that the Pulwama attack was an instant reaction to the atrocities committed by Indian occupation forces. “If they force the Kashmiri youth to rub their noses on the ground to humiliate them, they would face similar reaction,” he warned.

He said instead of learning a lesson from the incident, India started browbeating Pakistan despite the fact that it was an indigenous happening.

He said the government of Narendra Modi was using the incident as an election stunt.

Mushtaq Ahmad condemned that attacks on the lives and properties of Muslims in India after the incident. “One Pakistani was martyred in an Indian prison. Mosques and seminaries are being targetted by the Hindu zealots,” he said.

He demanded the international human rights organisations to take notice of

the atrocities against Muslims in India and force the Indian government to mend its way.

To a question, Mushtaq Ahmad said both the previous and current governments had shown lethargy on deciding the case of Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav. “As India has failed to prove his innocence in the International Court of Justice, Pakistan should take the case towards its logical conclusion at the earliest,” he added.