Global News

MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan on Tuesday said that Kashmiri and Pakistani diaspora communities are driving force that act as a catalyst in creating world opinion in favour of the right to self-determination of Kashmiris.

“The role of the diaspora community in the United Kingdom, Europe and North America for reaching out to lawmakers, civil society and media to highlight the plight of Kashmiris and the human rights violations taking place in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K) is commendable,” the president was cited in an article published in a national daily.

Calling out on recent worldwide protests that reflected grounds well of opprobrium against India’s illegal steps it took on August 5 last year to invade, reoccupy, bifurcate and colonise the disputed territory, President Masood stated that the mainstream international media and influential parliamentarians in the US Congress, European Parliament and British Parliament have excoriated New Delhi over its now over six-month-long occupation lockdown, communication blockade and the imposition of decisions against the will of the people of IOK.

“A taboo has been broken that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) use of unbridled force in IOJ&K resulting in mass killings, blinding, arbitrary detentions and systematic sexual violence cannot be called out,” he underlined.

Saying that subdued voices of Kashmiris have now been heard across the world, he said that China, Turkey, Malaysia and Iran spoke up for Kashmiris since the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has issued a strong statement, and the UN Security Council has held two informal sessions on Kashmir issue.

“Germany, Sweden and Finland have expressed their concern. But, the most powerful nations remain ambivalent in their response as they assess their costs and benefits on their strategic-economic calculus,” the president lamented.

While warning about the unintended consequences of the appeasement by world powers of a regime that openly advocates and practises neo-Fascist doctrine of Hindutva, President Masood said that this might “encourage the re-enactment of Auschwitz camps in Kashmir and in India on a much larger scale”.