Alvi, Imran reaffirm support to Kashmiris struggle

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday Pakistan always stood steadfast for the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination and called upon the international community to take notice of the increasing barbarism on Kashmiris in Indian occupied Kashmir.

In a series of tweets on the Kashmir Martyrs Day, the Prime Minister said Pakistan would continue to support the just struggle of Kashmiris till the valley was liberated from the clutches of Indian illegal occupation. He expressed the hope about the liberation of Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir, saying: “That day is not far”. He said they salute Kashmiris for their

continued struggle against the illegal and barbaric Indian occupation of Jammu and Kashmir. “The Shuhada (martyrs) of July 13, 1931 were the forefathers of today’s Kashmiri resistance,” he added.

Khan tweeted: “Their descendants have, generation after generation, laid down their lives for freedom and today they continue to valiantly fight & defy a Hindutva Supremacist regime bent on demographic engineering to wipe out the Kashmiri people & their identity.”

In his statement, President Alvi regretted the world silence over the situation in the occupied valley and urged the international community to take notice of the increasing barbarism on Kashmiris in Indian occupied Kashmir.

Paying tributes to the martyrs, Dr Alvi said the people of Kashmir will get their right to self-determination and their struggle will not go in vain.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi also paid tribute to the 22 sons of Jammu and Kashmir “whose courage in the face of brutal Dogra forces regalvanized a decades-old struggle for self-determination in 1931 — an inalienable right Kashmiris continue to die for to this day”.

Separately, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PM- N) President and opposition leader in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif said the 22 Kashmiri youths took on despotic Dogra Raj in 1931 and wrote a history of bravery.

The PML-N leader took to social networking website and posted: “Despite intensification of violence post August 5 by India, Kashmiris of all ages and across genders are challenging Indian PM Modi’s fascism today with their blood. They are hope of future.”

While Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said Kashmiris will soon get freedom and India will face defeat. “Indian leaders will continue to stumble with the echo of the Azaan that was given by Kashmiri martyrs,” he added.