‘Fight will go on whether world backs us or not’

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has maintained that Pakistan will continue fighting for Kashmir’s freedom with or without the support of the world.

He said some Muslim countries, which are not openly supporting Pakistan due to their business interests, will sooner or later support Pakistan’s position on the Kashmir dispute. In his broadcast address to the nation on Monday evening, the prime minister announced that Pakistan will go to any extent in support of the people of Indian Held Kashmir (IHK).

“The major world powers have a responsibility to help the oppressed Kashmiris, but even if they do not do, we will go with the Kashmiris till our last breath,” he said, adding that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a “historic blunder” by revoking IHK’s special autonomy opening the way to Kashmir’s freedom.

“Modi has made a huge blunder in arrogance and it has provided historic moment for Kashmiris to realise their decades-long dream of achieving freedom from India,” he said. The prime minister said the United Nations had a responsibility to ensure that the people of Kashmir had the right to decide their own future through a referendum.

He said both Pakistan and India are nuclear powers, and if the situation heads toward war, the entire world will get affected. He said the UN is the most responsible forum on the Kashmir dispute because its resolutions pledging plebiscite have not been implemented.

“The responsibility today lies on the international community. Pakistan would go to any length at every forum to press the issue,” said the premier. He said the eyes of more than a billion Muslims are set on the UN to take steps in resolution of Kashmir dispute.

Imran Khan called fellow countrymen to stop work for half an hour on Fridays as a mark of solidarity with Kashmiris. “We as a whole nation give this message to the eight million Kashmiris that we are standing with them,” the prime minister said, adding that the

UNSC meeting over the Kashmir conflict was a diplomatic achievement for Pakistan, which rejected New Delhi’s stance that IHK was an internal matter. He said it was for the first time that the UN Security Council session was called on Kashmir after 1965.

The prime minister said Pakistan has successfully internationalised the Kashmir issue, and the very holding of the UN Security Council meeting on the issue proves that the issue had become international.

“We have talked to important heads of state, their emissaries, international media and the international organisations to appraise the world of the gravity of the situation in IHK,” he said.

The prime minister said being the ambassador of Kashmiris he will raise the issue at every international forum. He said he will use his speech at the UN next month to inform the world about the true face of India. Imran Khan said he will also use his stay in New York to personally meet the world leaders and brief them about the situation.

The premier said India wanted to launch a false flag operation in Azad Kashmir on the pretext of stopping terrorists. However, he said, the Indian plans were thwarted when Pakistan informed the world about their designs.

The prime minister thanked the nation and the media for raising and highlighting the Kashmir issue in a stronger way to internationalise it. He said Pakistan’s movement will continue till the liberation of Kashmir. Imran Khan said now western media is also highlighting the issue of Kashmir and criticising the policies of Indian government in the occupied territory. He said that he has planned to embark on a diplomatic tour soon to raise the issue in international forums including the UNGA next month.

“I will tour the world and tell them what is happening since the Modi government is pursuing a policy which brought havoc globally in the past,” he said. Referring to Indian extremist, fascist government, he said that they (RSS) believe that Hindus are supreme and others are second-class citizens. “They have a fascist ideology; they have been sidelined by India’s past government as a terrorist organisation. They were the ones who assassinated (Mahatma) Gandhi for trying to promote Hindu-Muslim unity,” he said.

He reminded that the RSS ideology started gaining ground after death of former Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Imran Khan warned that a Pak-India nuclear war will not only wreak havoc in this region, but the entire world will face consequences.

He lamented that his Indian counterpart did not respond to his peace overtures, and instead hurled terror allegation to avoid dialogue. “When our government came into power, our first priority was to establish peace in the region to increase employment, business and trade opportunities and tackle other issues being faced by the nation,” he said, adding, “We extended a hand of friendship to all regional countries, including India. We approached to Afghanistan for a political settlement of the crisis there, instead of military.”

Imran Khan said he offered India that if it takes one step, Pakistan will take two steps so that both resolve all issues including Kashmir through dialogue. However, he said, Pakistan’s sincere efforts for holding talks were rejected by India.

“As it was election time in India, we thought it was perhaps due to election compulsions. Then came Pulwama incident which was perpetrated by a Kashmiri youth out of frustration of Indian cruelties. However, India pointed finger towards Pakistan without properly investigating the incident,” he said.

Imran Khan said India tried its best to bankrupt Pakistan by making full efforts to bring it into the blacklist of Financial Action Task Force (FATF). He said the Indian government's act of abolishing the status of IHK has negated the secular identity of India.

“The message was clear that India is for Hindus and all others are second class citizens. This is the ideology of RSS that is being followed by BJP government. The ideology of RSS is based on hatred against all nationalities of India,” he said. The prime minister said the RSS ideology is dangerous for peaceful co-existence and world peace.