SIALKOT: Sher-i-Kashmir Shaikh Mohammad Abdullah has said the people of the occupied state of Jammu and Kashmir would not accept that the Kashmir issue has been settled and that its present status could not be challenged.

According to a report from across the ceasefire line, Shaikh Abdullah was commenting in Srinagar on Mrs Indira Gandhi’s claim that Kashmir’s so-called merger with India was “final” and that Kashmir was an integral part of India and that the issue had been solved.

Shaikh Sahib said nothing could be more “unrealistic, ridiculous and funny than this claim”. He said Mrs Indira Gandhi’s statement in question was a challenge not only to the people of the state but also to the United Nations where the case of the poor Kashmiris was lying pending for 23 years. He said it was UNO’s obligation also to convince the Indian leaders, including Mrs Indira Gandhi, that the dispute was still on the anvil and waiting for final solution.

The Kashmiri leader said that right of self-determination was the birth-right of the Kashmiris and they were not going to forego it under any circumstances. … The will of the people, he further said, is the decisive factor to the destiny of the state. ... — Agency

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2020