Lahore, October 09, 2019 (PPI-OT): Kashmir Committee Chairman Syed Fakhar Imam said on Tuesday the Kashmir issue must be resolved as per desires of Kashmiris and they must be given the right to self-determination. He called upon the United Nations to implement its resolutions on Kashmir otherwise the international body may face the fate of League of Nations, as two nuclear powers are standing eyeball to eyeball along the border after India’s unilateral and illegal occupation of Kashmir.
Syed Fakhar Imam also laid stress on improving internal political and economic stability to properly focus on the Kashmir issue. He was addressing a conference on “Kashmiri Freedom Struggle – A Full Spectrum Review after Illegal Indian Annexation on August 5” jointly arranged by the Punjab University and the Centre for Global and Strategic Studies (CGSS).
Syed Fakhar Imam said Pakistan did not recognise the Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and those internal arrangements with the IOK. After the August 5 episode, Kashmiri leaders including Mehbooba Mufti and Farooq Abdullah expressed remorse that their ancestors were wrong to choose India over Pakistan.
Fakhar Imam, while defending the government’s diplomatic efforts, said that Kashmir is a disputed territory and India could not annex it. Due to successful diplomatic efforts of Pakistan, he said, the world has expressed concern at human rights violations in Occupied Kashmir.
The UN secretary general, US senators and French parliament have demanded that India lift curfew in the area, he said. US President Donald Trump offered five times mediation on Kashmir. “Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh people will decide the future of Kashmir,” he said.
“We are thankful to China for supporting us over Kashmir issue,” Fakhar Imam said. Lt Gen (r) Khalid Maqbool focused on India’s conspiracy of revoking Kashmir’s special status and its hidden agenda with possibility of armed conflict with Pakistan. “We are a peaceful country but if the war is imposed, the entire nation would unite to fight the enemy,” he said.
He said that RSS was doing propaganda to weaken Pakistan and Kashmiri struggle after 1990s had become completely indigenous. “The Kashmir struggle is at its peak and Indian forces cannot suppress the Kashmiris’ voice. Pakistan is still thriving with its values and is moving forward. Some Western powers wanted to sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to hinder China’s way to development,” he said.
PU VC Prof Niaz Ahmed said that UN had failed to implement its resolutions on Kashmir. He said that Imran Khan had presented Kashmir’s case at United Nations excellently and he had truly represented Islamic countries. He said, “We need to launch aggressive diplomacy to sensitise the world about human rights violations being committed by the Indian forces in Occupied Kashmir. He urged the world not to prefer economic interest to human rights.
CGSS President Maj Gen (r) Syed Khalid Amir Jaffrey said that curfew in IOK has become the longest curfew in the Valley and it could become the longest in the world. Former Pakistan high commissioner to India Abdul Basit said that post-August-5 diplomatic effort by the PTI government was not satisfactory. “There should have been more diplomacy on Kashmir with a proper strategy but we missed the chances and made decisions in haste. The Foreign Office’s Kashmir Cell agreed at a recent meeting to chalk out a strategy for the next year and this is quite disturbing,” he said. He said that India could not win heart of Kashmiris.
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