Veterans strongly condemn changing held Kashmir’s status

ISLAMABAD: The Veterans of Pakistan (VOP) on Thursday severely condemned Indian action to withdraw the Special Status of their occupied part of the State of Jammu & Kashmir.

A meeting of the VOP observed that this status was, in fact, given to the state by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in 1949 by terming it as disputed territory.

Hence, India has no authority to withdraw that status. Members urged the Government of Pakistan to draw attention of the Security Council towards this flagrant violation of the UNSC Resolutions while issue should also be raised on other relevant forums.

In some quarters in Pakistan, the government is being targeted for not referring to Article 370 in the Joint Resolution passed by our parliament. Those critics must understand that “Special Status” and Article 370 are two different issues, the VOP members said.

Inclusion of Article 370 in the resolution would have meant that Pakistan accepts application of the Indian Constitution over Jammu and Kashmir under their occupation.

Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) have special status since 1948 when Ch Ghulam Abbas became president and Sardar Ibrahim the prime minister, they said.

The veterans noted that we should emphatically continue to condemn annulment of the special status of occupied Jammu & Kashmir, without referring to Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.