TAXILA: Increasing ceasefire violations by India along the Line of Control (LoC) are aimed at diverting the world’s attention from its atrocities and gross abuses of human rights in Kashmir, the president of Jammu Kashmir Peoples’ Party (JKPP) said on Tuesday.

Talking to newsmen at a reception given by the Taxila chapter of All Pakistan Private School Association, Sardar Khalid Ibrahim Khan said whenever the voice for independence in India-held Kashmir strengthened, the brutality by Indian forces increased and they started targeting (Pakistani security) checkpoints and civilians.

“This shows Indian government’s frustration as it has failed to suppress the freedom struggle of Kashmiris despite massive killings of the youth,” he said. “But India can’t suppress their struggle at gunpoint.”

He said the death of charismatic rebel leader Burhan Wani last year had given new life to the freedom movement in occupied Kashmir, and Indian forces were now resorting to all kinds of tactics to strangle the movement. “The third generation of the Kashmiris has risen against the Indian occupation,” he added.

‘PM Sharif has failed to live up to Kashmiris’ expectations’

On a question, the JKPP president said the Kashmiri people living on both sides of the LoC pinned high hopes on Prime Minister Nawaz Shairf when he came to power in 2013. They believed that Mr Sharif, himself a Kashmiri, would work for their cause, but he had done nothing; instead, he had extended ties with Indian businessmen, he said.

He criticised the government’s decision of not appointing a foreign minister as keeping this important portfolio vacant not only weakened the case of Kashmir at international level but also caused an irreparable loss to Pakistan’s foreign policy.

The silence of Pakistani rulers on India’s brutalities was highly deplorable, he said, and urged the international community to reach out to Kashmiris on a priority basis. “The sacrifices of the Kashmiris should not go to waste,” he said, adding that the issue could be resolved only through a plebiscite.

Replying another question, he dismissed the perception that the ‘track two’ diplomacy had been suspended after the Musharraf era, and said that such efforts should continue to resolve this core issue of South Asia. Track two refers to an unofficial channel for the exchange of ideas and proposals unconstrained by the official stance of the parties concerned.

Mr Khan also condemned New Delhi’s attempts to alter the demography of the occupied Kashmir by settling Hindus in the valley from other parts of India.

All Pakistan Private School Association (Taxila) President Attaur Rehman and General Secretary Tahir Durrani also spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2017