AJK’s ex-president asks govt to properly highlight Kashmir issue

Former Azad Jammu and Kashmir president and prime minister Sardar Yaqoob Khan said on Monday the government should highlight the issue of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) properly on international forums.

Addressing a press conference at a cricket ground, he said the silence of the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and other countries over the Indian atrocities against Kashmiris was worrisome.

The growing cruelties had compelled the Kashmiris to raise arms, he said and demanded that the special status of occupied Kashmir should be revived. Khan said the Kashmiris must be given the right to a plebiscite as per the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.

He also showed his concerns over the Indian governments’ move to issue new domicile certificates in tens of thousands in the IIOJK, saying that the Modi government wanted to change the identity of the Muslim-majority region and turn the Kashmiris into a minority on their own soil.

“But the Kashmiris will not allow the Indian governments to succeed in its plan at every cost,” he said. “The indigenous resistance movement of the Kashmiris for their inalienable right to self-determination, as enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, would only become stronger in the face of Indian state-terrorism.”

The Kashmiris had been suffering for decades and, despite the Indian atrocities, they were fighting for their right to self-determination, the AJK leader said. He said the hearts of Pakistanis beat with the hearts of the Kashmiris, and every year the Pakistanis celebrated Kashmir Day to show their commitment and love to the Kashmiri brethren.

He said they had full confidence in the Pakistani nation and army, and hoped that the Kashmir Issue would be resolved soon. Later, the trophy of a cricket tournament being arranged in connection with Kashmir Day was unveiled. Sardar Maqbool Zaman, Sardar Zulfiqar, Sardar Nazakat and others were also present on the occasion.