AJK President thanks Malaysian PM for supporting Kashmir issue

MIRPUR (AJK): Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan on Saturday thanked Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Muhammad for his principled and courageous stand on the Jammu and Kashmir issue and his call for the implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions to give the Kashmiris their democratic right to determine their own political future.

The President also thanked the Malaysian Parliament for establishing a Friends of Kashmir Group. We hope that this will lead to the establishment of a Caucus on Kashmir in the Malaysian Parliament, he said.

Masood Khan conveyed these messages to the top leadership of Malaysia during his meetings with Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah binti Wan Ismail, Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, Health Minster Dr. Dzulkefly Ahmad and State Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment Datuk Mohd Rafiq, AJK Presidential secretariat said in a statement released to the media.

President Masood Khan said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir wanted the realization of their right to self-determination recognized and pledged to them by the UN Security Council. They do not want a confrontation or war or endless strife.

He told his interlocutors that Kashmiris had been subjected to brutalities for the past 72 years, including killings, massacres, blinding, rape and disappearances; but since August 5, 2019, the entire territory of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK) was under a relentless occupation lockdown and communication blockade. The people and the land are both under punitive, imperialistic siege, he said, adding that in this dark hour of Kashmir’s history, the leadership and people of Malaysia have stood by Kashmiris and had demanded an end to occupation of the territory and repression taking place there.

I salute Malaysia for not yielding to immense Indian pressure to retract its position on Kashmir.