Islamabad, June 20, 2020 (PPI-OT): The Islamabad Institute of Conflict Resolution (IICR) organised a webinar titled “Kashmir: A Utopian Land with Dystopian Lives”. The webinar was part of IICR’s Exclusive Globe 2020 which covered diverse discourse on Kashmir’s past, present and future. It also included China-India stand-off.
The event was moderated by Yasir Rehman and the panellists included Lt. Gen (retd) Raza Muhammad Khan, Ms Sabah Aslam, CEO IICR, Major Gen (retd) Raza Muhammad, Chairman IICR, Ahmed Qureshi, senior journalist on Security and Kashmir and Altaf Ahmed Butt, President of Jammu Kashmir Salvation Movement.
Altaf Ahmed Butt addressing the session highlighted the plight of the people of occupied Kashmir. He said that Kashmir was under triple lockdown: The first in 1989, second after 5th August 2019, and third one due to COVID-19.
Giving first-hand information from the occupied Kashmir, he said that in past 310 days of lockdown, 170 youth were martyred, 1500 people were critically injured, 995 houses damaged or demolished while more than 100 women were molested during cordon and search operations by the Indian forces. He appealed to the Government of Pakistan and Prime Minister Imran Khan to announce relief package for the besieged people of occupied Kashmir suffering from lockdown and COVID-19.
He also urged the United Nations to help transferring the relief funds to occupied Kashmir and put pressure on India to allow international health organizations to reach Kashmir and provide health and medical facilities to the people of Kashmir if those funds cannot be delivered directly.
Lt. Gen (retd) Raza Muhammad Khan in his speech said that the unilateral actions taken by India in occupied Kashmir had put the peace of entire region at stake and on the verge of devastation as all the stakeholders of the Kashmir dispute were atomic powers. He added that Pakistan should give communicative support to Kashmir through international media. He pointed out that India was already an apartheid country and was now facing isolation as its relations were becoming feeble with neighbouring countries. Ahmed Qureshi and Maj Gen (Retd) Raza Muhammad in their addresses highlighted the Indian brutalities and human rights violations in occupied Kashmir.
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