Time of self-determination for Kashmiris nearing: Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Wednesday expressed optimism that the people of Kashmir would succeed in their decades-old freedom struggle and that their time to attain right to self-determination was nearing.

“You will succeed. This is part of my Iman (faith). InshaAllah, that day is near when you will attain right to self determination and you will be free from the yoke of Indian occupation,” the foreign minister said in his message on Youm-e-Istehsal observed across the country and abroad to mark the first anniversary of Indian illegal actions of August 05, 2019 in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K).

He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan was fighting the case of Kashmiri people as their ambassador and that he would be acting like their spokesperson as long as the Kashmiri leadership was under detention. The minister said the people of Kashmir were not alone rather every Pakistani stood by them and felt their pain.

“You are fighting for a just cause of right to self-determination — a promise yet to be fulfilled. You are fortunate to have Imran Khan as an ambassador,” Qureshi said.

He demanded India to lift sanctions and provide basic fundamental rights to the people of IOJ&K. He expressed the confidence that the Indian tyranny and human rights abuses would not shake the resolve of Kashmiri people as it could not do so during last seven decades.

Meanwhile, Shah Mehmood Qureshi challenged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a public gathering in Azad Kashmir and allow Prime Minister Imran Khan in Srinagar to test the efficacy of his policies in IOJ&K.

“It has been a year of your policy enforced (in). If you are confident enough, as foreign minister of Pakistan, I invite you to come and address Kashmiris in Muzaffarabad and see what kind of reception you receive. If you have courage and confidence, allow Prime Minister Imran Khan to visit Srinagar and see how he is received there,” the foreign minister said while talking to media person after attending the main rally held on Kashmir Siege Day observed. He said this would prove to be a referendum by the people of Kashmir.

“This is a challenge. Accept it if you have courage or review (your policy) if you don’t,” the minister remarked.

He said the new political map of Pakistan represented the nation’s sentiments, which also manifested that Kashmir was a dispute awaiting resolution and India could not escape from the UN resolutions. He said the imposition of curfew in IOJ&K on the day had proved that the morale of the Kashmiri people was still high.

“If Indian actions on August 5, 2019 were in interest of Kashmir people, there must have been celebrations and festivities, instead of lockdown,” he added.

He said the Modi regime’s fascist policies were even being condemned within India where people were calling for review as the current policies were creating estrangement from Kashmiris.