Palestinians, Kashmiris will achieve independence: Malik

ISLAMABAD: PPP’s senior leader Rehman Malik has said the sacrifices of people of Palestine and Kashmir will not go waste and they will achieve the dream of independence from Israel and India’s oppression.

“The heart bleeds to see the situation in Palestine and Kashmir, where innocent and unarmed people are massacred and human rights are violated by cruel Israeli and Indian armed forces respectively,” he said while addressing a webinar as chief guest on the Palestine issue which was attended by a large number of speakers and audiences from across the globe.

Malik said the Muslim world has deviated from its purpose and goals and our power as ‘Ummah’ one nation has been shattered. He said the Muslim world must unite as global colonial powers, including Israel and India, are directly taking advantage of the differences in the Muslim world.

He urged the Muslim countries to resolve the issue of Palestine and Kashmir where Muslims are being persecuted on daily basis. “The Palestinian issue was the result of Britain’s prejudice towards Muslims and the same is the case of Kashmir,” he added. He said they left behind both the Muslim territories as disputed. He said initially Britain had given 20 percent of Palestinian land to Jews but now they have illegally occupied 80 percent of the land. “It was Britain’s strategy to leave behind burning issues and to create imbalance and instability in these regions,” he further added. He said the establishment of Israel on Palestinian land was intended to create imbalances and chaos in the region. He said the Middle East had been destabilised to divert the world’s attention from the Palestinian issue and the world knows well how Iraq, Turkey, Libya, Syria, Yemen, all these Middle Eastern countries clashed with each other. “All of us know well that how the most dangerous terrorist organisation Daesh was created,” he said. He said the creation of ISIS was a dangerous plot against Muslims in the best possible way which failed, adding that the creation of ISIS is well elaborated in his book “ISIS-rising monster worldwide”. Talking about the Indian forces brutalities in occupied Kashmir, Malik said we have been playing for 70 years on a ground which was not ours but always India instigated Pakistan.

He said the international community was silent spectator on the inhumane atrocities taking place in Kashmir and Palestine and now sadly Muslim countries have gradually decreased their support to Palestine and Kashmir due to Israel’s strong influences. He said the massacre of Muslims in Palestine by Israeli forces is by design to bring demographic changes and cause further immigration of Palestinians and the same model is replicated in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K) by Indian premier Narendera Modi.

He said geographical facts are being distorted both in Kashmir and Palestine. He said let me quote here the words of Quaid-i-Azam, who said “The Muslims of subcontinent would not remain as mere spectators. They would help the Arabs in Palestine by all possible means”. But we saw who recognised occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” he added. Malik said issues of Palestine and Kashmir need to be discussed at the international level comprehensively.

He said peace in the Middle East cannot be achieved without giving the Palestine people their rights. “We will continue to demand the establishment of an independent and viable Palestinian state - a state with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital,” he added.

The video conference on Palestine issue was organised by Palestine Foundation Pakistan and Institute of Research and Reforms (IRR) of which Rehman Malik is chairman. The online conference was chaired by Rehman Malik and was attended by Gen Ghulam Mustafa (retd), Senator Sitara Ayaz, Senator Mushtaq Ahmed, Senator Talha Mahmood, Khurram Nawaz Gandapur, Nasir Shirazi and Dr Sabir Abu Maryam.