Prepared to go to any extent to fulfil our obligations to Kashmiri people: ISPR

Published August 6, 2019
Corps Commanders meeting was held at GHQ in Rawalpindi to discuss India's decision to revoke Article 370. — Photo courtesy DG ISPR's official Twitter account
Corps Commanders meeting was held at GHQ in Rawalpindi to discuss India's decision to revoke Article 370. — Photo courtesy DG ISPR's official Twitter account

The military leadership "fully supported the government's rejections of Indian actions regarding Kashmir" and is "prepared and shall go to any extent to fulfil our obligations [to the Kashmiri people]," Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said on Tuesday after the conclusion of a Corps Commanders meeting in Rawalpindi.

"Pakistan never recognised the sham Indian efforts to legalise its occupation of Jammu & Kashmir through article 370 or 35-A decades ago, efforts which have now been revoked by India itself," Ghafoor said in a series of tweets from his official account.

"Pakistan Army firmly stands by the Kashmiris in their just struggle to the very end. We are prepared and shall go to any extent to fulfil our obligations in this regard,” the DG ISPR quoted Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa as saying.

The meeting was held at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi to discuss India's decision to revoke Article 370 of its constitution, stripping occupied Kashmir of its special status.

Revoking occupied Kashmir's special status

Yesterday, India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party stripped Kashmiris of the special autonomy they had for seven decades through a rushed presidential order. An indefinite curfew — that has entered its second day — was imposed in occupied Kashmir and elected leaders were put under house arrest.

By repealing Article 370 of the constitution, people from the rest of India will now have the right to acquire property in occupied Kashmir and settle there permanently. Kashmiris as well as critics of India’s Hindu nationalist-led government see the move as an attempt to dilute the demographics of Muslim-majority Kashmir with Hindu settlers.

Furthermore, Indian Home Minister Amit Shah, who is also president of the BJP, moved a bill to bifurcate the state into two union territories — one, Jammu and Kashmir, which will have a legislature, and the other, Ladakh — to be directly ruled by New Delhi.

Pakistan had strongly condemned the move and vowed to "exercise all possible options to counter the illegal steps" taken by India. A joint parliamentary session was summoned by President Arif Alvi so that the political leadership can devise future strategy with regards to occupied Kashmir.

Opinion

Editorial

Digital growth
Updated 25 Apr, 2024

Digital growth

Democratising digital development will catalyse a rapid, if not immediate, improvement in human development indicators for the underserved segments of the Pakistani citizenry.
Nikah rights
25 Apr, 2024

Nikah rights

THE Supreme Court recently delivered a judgement championing the rights of women within a marriage. The ruling...
Campus crackdowns
25 Apr, 2024

Campus crackdowns

WHILE most Western governments have either been gladly facilitating Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, or meekly...
Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...