India be held accountable for crimes against humanity, says AJK president

MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan on Wednesday said India should be held accountable for committing crimes against humanity and trampling international laws, treaties, and covenants.

Addressing a conference "Lawfare Doctrine for Pakistan", organised by the Center for Law and Security (CLAS), the president said the people of Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir have a legal case regarding occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Despite Pakistan's strong legal position, we are not getting the desired success because of India’s efforts to use lawfare as an instrument for legitimising its state-sponsored terrorism in IIOJ&K and oppression against Kashmiri civilians.

He urged the international law experts and decision makers to redesign the policy to win the Kashmir war.

“The legitimate struggle of Kashmiris is being falsely portrayed as terrorism by delegitimising the concept of self-defense or fighting for your rights, a canon which has been recognized by the UN Charters and several UNSC resolutions,” he added.

He said India's heinous attempts were not confined to Jammu and Kashmir alone, adding it was also using the FATF to cripple Pakistan economically.

"India is hatching conspiracies against our nuclear programme, and is overtly and covertly attempting to sabotage the strategic China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Initiative," he added.

He said since the Indian actions in IIOJ&K in August 2019, the term lawfare has been frequently used in Pakistan, but now this must not be used merely in speeches and as a reference. Instead, our experts on international law should sit together and prepare a strong case against India to ensure the protection of national and strategic interests of Pakistan and Kashmir.

“For the past five years, particularly after August 2019, we have been literally in boot camp learning about the lawfare. We have done so many seminars, webinars, discussions, and I would say that now is the time to put into practice what we have learned,” he said.