KARACHI: Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Masood Khan visited the temporary headquarters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan on Saturday and praised the party for raising its voice against the lockdown in India-held Kashmir.

President Khan was warmly welcomed by top MQM-P leadership when he arrived at the Bahadurabad headquarters. The two sides first held a meeting and then spoke to the media.

During the meeting, both sides condemned the human rights violation in the occupied territory by the Indian security forces.

Later talking to newsmen, the AJK president said that since 1947 about 500,000 Kashmir youths had sacrificed their lives against the brutal Indian oppression and still nearly 15,000 teenagers were in the custody of Indian security forces.

He said that the youths were being brutally tortured so that they could not talk about freedom and withdraw from their demand for right to self-determination.

He said the MQM-P was not only an important party of Karachi but whole Pakistan and the way it expressed solidarity with the people of Kashmir was commendable.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2020