MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has urged the lawyers’ community to raise their voice against draconian laws and gross violations of human rights in India-held Kashmir.

“Kashmir dispute is fundamentally a political and legal issue, and lawyers are expected to better understand the problem and highlight it in its true legal and political perspective,” the president said while talking to a delegation of Central Bar Association (CBA) Muzaffarabad here on Tuesday.

The delegation was led by CBA president, Maqboolur Rehman Abbasi.

AJK president says lawyers are expected to better understand the problem and highlight it in its true legal and political perspective

“Kashmir being on the agenda of United Nations is legal issue, but at the same time it’s a political issue as well because it involves political future of the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” the president said.

The lawyers’ community, he said, had always raised the voices for justice, rule of law and human rights of the people and the same was expected of them for the oppressed people of occupied Kashmir.

He noted that the people in India-held Kashmir had not only been denied of their human rights but were also facing worst kind of atrocities and inhuman treatment at the hands of occupation forces. The lawyers must come forward and play their role for Kashmir cause, he stressed.

Recounting atrocities on Kashmiris in India held Kashmir, Mr Khan said that the innocent Kashmiris were being tortured and killed by more than 700,000 Indian troops with impunity.

Calling for massive campaign to create awareness about the situation in occupied Kashmir, he urged lawyers to make some kind of forum or committee of the bar members with the sole task to highlight the Kashmir issue and Indian atrocities through social media.

The president accepted delegation’s invitation to address the bar at his earliest convenience.

Later, a four- member delegation of UK Youth Parliament headed by Ms Muzdalfa Ahmed also called on the AJK president and apprised him of the activities of the forum for the youth.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2019