Muzaffarabad, December 09, 2019 (PPI-OT): The President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Sardar Masood Khan, received an international delegation of human rights activists at his office in Muzaffarabad, today. The delegation headed by Mr Zafar Bangash, Convener, Friends of Kashmir, Canada, and Director, Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought, and comprised Dr Jonathan Kuttab, an international human rights lawyer, Mrs Karen Rodman, Founder and Director of the Canadian NGO Just Peace Advocates and Ms Michaela Lavis, a Masters student at York University in Toronto.
President Masood Khan briefed the visitors about the liberation of Azad Jammu and Kashmir in October 1947 and how India subverted the people’s struggle to achieve complete liberation by taking the matter to the UN Security Council in 1948.
The AJK president then described the crisis that has erupted since August 5 when India sent in tens of thousands of additional troops into occupied Kashmir. President Khan said that at least 13,000 Kashmiri youths, some as young as 9 or 10 years old, were among those kidnapped by the Indian occupation forces.
“Many Kashmiri youth have set up vigilant committees to man barricades in order to prevent the marauding Indian troops from entering their locality to arrest parents or molest women.” Mr. Zafar Bangash thanked the President for receiving the delegation and sharing his thoughts with them. President Masood Khan then invited members of the delegation to speak about their work.
Dr Jonathan Kuttab highlighted the experience of the Palestinians vis-a-vis Zionist Israel and how this could be used by the people of Kashmir to secure their legal and political rights. The international human rights lawyer based in Washington DC as well as Jerusalem also emphasized that legal work and political activities had to be separated from each other.
“International law has specific norms. These are universal and any situation framed within legal norms would automatically find universal acceptance,” Dr Kuttab said. Mrs. Karen Rodman explained the work of Just Peace Advocates regarding human rights. She said that it was initially focused on Palestine but has now extended its work to the struggle of the Kashmiri people as well.
An interesting feature of the visiting delegation is the fact that Ms. Michaela Lavis, a Canadian student, is doing research into the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir. This is perhaps the first time that a foreign student is doing research on this subject.
Her Master’s thesis will focus of ‘Forced Migration and International Law as it relates to Jammu and Kashmir’. As part of her research, Ms. Lavis will be meeting and interviewing refugee families in and around Muzaffarabad.
President Masood Khan expressed appreciation for the work the members of the visiting delegation were doing to support the struggle of the Kashmiri people and urged them to share their experiences with their compatriots upon return to their countries.
The visiting delegation will also be meeting AJK Prime Minister, Raja Farooq Haider and Speaker of AJK Assembly, Shah Ghulam Qadir. A seminar is also scheduled at the university where the visitors will share their views with students and staff of the university.
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