LAHORE: President Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Masood Khan says the recent comments by French President Emmanuel Macron are indicative of rising European nationalism.

University of Health Sciences Vice Chancellor Professor Javed Akram, on the other hand, has announced that the UHS will not collaborate anymore with French institutions in research and academics.

Addressing the senior faculty during a visit to UHS on Thursday, Sardar Masood Khan said: “India is using the cover of Covid-19 to ethnically cleanse Kashmiris. This is the eighth stage of genocide. In Occupied Kashmir, a child can be sentenced to two years for merely chanting the slogan of independence. They are being persecuted because they are Muslims.” He said Azad Jammu and Kashmir had a special bond with the UHS as all the three government medical colleges [in Kashmir] were affiliated with the university.

“Prof Javed Akram and his team went to the Line of Control and proved that when a doctor wants to reach his patient, no border or army can stand in his way”, he said.

UHS Board of Governors Chairman retired Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jilani said India had failed to silence the voice of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He said like government medical colleges in Punjab, UHS should also allocate seats for Kashmiris in its M.Phil and PhD programmes.

UHS VC Prof Javed Akram announced that the university would not enter into academic or research collaboration with any French institutions.

Researchers from the Institute of Bioengineering, China, and a delegation from the Pakistan Society of Internal Medicine were also present on the occasion.

Head of the team of Chinese researchers, Dr Qiu Don Xu, said the human trial of Chinese vaccine for coronavirus had started in Pakistan and so far 2,000 volunteers had been registered [for trial]. “Our target is to register 10,000 volunteers in coming days,” he added.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2020