MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas has said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed visit to illegally-occupied Kashmir was tantamount to rubbing salt on the wounds of the Kashmiris.

“The day the killer of Kashmiris lands in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, they will observe a black day on both sides of the divide,” he declared in a statement.

According to Indian media reports, Mr Modi was likely to visit occupied Jammu and Kashmir on April 24 in what will be his first tour since August 2019 when the erstwhile state was stripped of its special status and bifurcated into two union territories.

Citing the bloodbath let loose by Indian forces in occupied Kashmir, the AJK premier pointed out that India had crossed all limits of brutality and barbarism and it was incumbent upon the United Nations to play its much needed role to rid Kashmiris of unrelenting Indian repression.

Referring to the enforced disappearances, killings of youth in fake encounters, Mr Ilyas said thousands of unmarked mass graves spread all across the territory spoke volumes about the systematic genocide of Kashmiris at the hands of India’s occupation machinery.

“At a time when Kashmiris stand deprived even of the inconsequential rights of governance due to stripping of the special status of their state, when the Indian occupation forces have stepped up the worst ever atrocities, Modi’s visit amounts to rubbing salt into the wounds of Kashmiris,” he said.

In fact, he said, the visit was part of the BJP government’s ploy to hoodwink the international community and create a false impression that “all is well in Kashmir”.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2022