MUZAFFARABAD: Expres­sing solidarity with the people of India-held Kashmir, President Dr Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday asked the international community to stand with the Kashmiris who have been struggling for past many decades against the brutality of Indian forces.

President Alvi reiterated his call to the United Nations to send a ‘fact-finding mission’ to the occupied valley and fulfil its pledge to the Kashmiris regarding UN-sponsored plebiscite to decide their fate, while PM Khan said the Indian military oppression had rallied all Kashmiris together in their demand for freedom.

In his appeal to ‘all freedom-loving people in the world’ to stand with the people of Kashmir, Mr Khan made it clear that the Indian army was not fighting ‘insurgents’ but the entire population in the occupied valley.

Kashmir remains a long pending unresolved issue on UN agenda since 1948, says military spokesperson

Also on the occasion of Kashmir Solidarity Day, director general of Inter-Services Public Relations Major General Asif Ghafoor said the people of India-occupied Kashmir (IoK) would succeed in their legitimate freedom struggle. “Kashmir remains a long pending unresolved issue on UN agenda since 1948. Decades of atrocities by Indian occupation forces have failed to suppress ever strengthening legitimate freedom struggle. Determined Kashmiris shall succeed Insha Allah,” he said in a tweet.

While addressing a special session of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assem­bly, President Alvi reminded Indian forces that their abominable cruelties could not quell the popular public movement in India-held Kashmir.

He eulogised the Kashmiris for their unprecedented struggle and sacrifices and said history was testament to the fact that brutal repression of the sentiments of any nation could not yield results according to the wishes of the oppressor(s). In this regard, he cited the example of Jews and said they too had been persecuted in the past but could not be eliminated as a nation. Similarly, he continued, the Palestinians had been facing savagery without interruption but they too were alive as a nation.

“I tell India that however and whatever amount of despotism she may employ in the occupied Kashmir, she will fail to suppress the sentiments and aspirations of Kashmiri nation,” President Alvi said while addressing the AJK assembly session, which was chaired by Speaker Shah Ghulam Qadir and attended by AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider, other lawmakers and political leaders of different groups.

For the first time, Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman and some members of his cabinet also witnessed the session from the visitors’ gallery.

Stating that the UN had a key role in the settlement of Kashmir issue, President Alvi recalled that India had herself taken this issue to the UN and the first Indian prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, had repeatedly pledged to the world that it would hold a free and fair plebiscite in the valley to determine the opinion of the Kashmiris.

Referring to his recent meeting with the UN General Assembly (UNGA) President Maria Fernanda Espinosa, Dr Alvi said he had told her that it was need of the hour to send a ‘fact-finding mission’ to the valley. “I told the [UN] General Assembly president to make the UN relevant and this relevancy will come [only] when the world body will say and do something on Kashmir,” he said.

President Alvi said that over the past seven decades, India had opposed every such move that could culminate in [inception of] independent opinion about the situation in occupied Kashmir. “If India believes that there is nothing to hide or that no atrocities are being committed in India-held territory, she should not have any objection to this kind of [fact-finding] mission,” he said.

He maintained that Pakistan believed in peaceful settlement of all issues which was why PM Khan had extended “hand of friendship” to India soon after coming to power. “However, the way India responded was regrettable,” he added.

He said India had always backed out of commitments and agreements including Simla Agreement that also called for dialogue on all outstanding issues. “India avoids talks with Pakistan under one or the other pretext, because it lacks arguments on the one hand and perpetrates despicable human rights violation in Kashmir on the other,” he said.

Dr Alvi appreciated that the India’s opinion makers had advised their government against perpetuation of the unlawful occupation of Kashmir. Apart from committing inhuman atrocities, the Indian government had also been trying to change the demography of the occupied valley by populating Hindus from outside. However, he said, all such nefarious designs would fail.

He said that he was astounded by the bravery of Kashmiri people particularly when he saw them challenging the savage Indian forces whenever the latter launched crackdown in any part of the valley. “When you close all doors, people are left with no choice but to take up arms,” he said.

The president demanded that India release all political prisoners belonging to the occupied Kashmir, lift ban on freedom of speech and expression, stop use of firearms on innocent Kashmiris, ban use of pellet guns that India was not using in any other state except the India-held Kashmir and repeal aggressive black laws.

Dr Alvi also demanded that India open the held territory to international human rights watchdogs to let them see for themselves the situation prevailing there, allow foreign travels to the pro-freedom leadership so that they could present their case before the international community, and keep the communication links with Kashmir connected.

Earlier, AJK’s Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider, Chaudhry Abdul Majeed of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Abdul Majid Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Abdul Rashid Turabi of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Malik Mohammad Nawaz of the Muslim Conference and Sardar Hassan Ibrahim of the JKPP also addressed the legislative assembly. In their speeches, they expressed gratitude to the entire Pakistani nation for their unflinching support to cause of Kashmiris.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2019