MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan on Thursday accredited Kashmiri leaders such as Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan for keeping the Kashmir issue alive in hard times by playing a pivotal role in the liberation struggle in 1947.

“Kashmir issue would have been diluted long ago had a part of the disputed region now known as Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) not been liberated under the dynamic leadership of Ghazi-i-Millat Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan in 1947,” he said while speaking at a conference on the life and achievements of AJK’s founding president.

Organisedby the University of Poonch, Rawalakot, the event was also addressed by former vice chancellor of University of AJK Prof Dr Khawaja Farooq Ahmed, Prof Dr Zafar Hussain Zafar, Prof Masood Khan and others.

Terming the founding president an accomplished politician, Mr Khan noted that the decision taken by him and his contemporaries at his residence in Srinagar on July 19,1947,to join Pakistan even before the birth of the country reflected his acumen and foresightedness.

The AJK president also paid tributes to the people of Poonch for their matchless sacrifices in the Kashmir freedom struggle that he said resulted in the liberation of 32,000 kilometres territory from the despotic Dogra rule under the leadership of Ghazi-i-Millat.

He said the late leader was the most honest politician and a man of principles who ruled AJK for long but without a single allegation of dishonesty.

He exhorted the students and audience to play their role in the ongoing freedom of Kashmir by raising the voice of the oppressed people of India-held Kashmir through social media and other means of communication alongside their studies to carry forward the mission of their forefathers.

He said the people of Kashmir braving bullets and pellets with great courage and determination were sending a loud and clear message to the oppressors that they could never suppress their aspiration or force them into submission.

He deplored that 700,000 Indian forces had created mayhem in Kashmir.

Commending the resolve of the leadership of the Joint Resistance Movement, including Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Yasin Malik and others, Mr Khan expressed the hope that their commitment and determination would soon take the freedom struggle to its logical conclusion.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2018