ISLAMABAD: The history of Muslim massacres in India’s Gujarat is being repeated in occupied Kashmir, Pakistan’s foreign minister, adding that Islamabad would send delegations to different countries to address the issue.
Speaking at a news conference, the foreign minister accused India of state-sponsored terrorism in the occupied valley, and said that the Indian state is “playing holi with the blood of Kashmiris.”
Asif’s statement came a day after the killing of at least 17 Kashmiri youth, including four killed in firing on funeral processions, by the Indian security forces in Islamabad and Shopian districts of the occupied valley.
The foreign minister said that the situation at the Line of Control (LoC) is tense due to the Indian government.
He said that the Pakistan’s federal cabinet met on Monday with a one-point agenda: to discuss the plight of Kashmiri people.
Asif said that the cabinet agreed to send delegations to different countries in view of apprising them of human rights abuses in the occupied valley.
He said that he discussed Kashmir crisis with the Turkish and Iranian foreign minister, adding that the Muslim nations have openly supported Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir.
Earlier, Pakistan premier expressed deep shock and grief over Sunday’s indiscriminate and vicious killings of Kashmiri youth.
PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the brutal crackdown, including the despicable use of pellet guns on civilians who were protesting against the killings, is deplorable.
He emphasised that Indian attempts to label the legitimate Kashmiri struggle as terrorism cannot deter the valiant people of Jammu and Kashmir from their demand of exercising their right to self-determination in accordance with the UN resolutions.
Abbasi called on the international community to urge India to allow access to fact-finding missions to occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Abbasi’s statement was followed by the Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) comments that “Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir can never suppress a just indigenous political struggle for self-determination.”
General Qamar Javed Bajwa said the brutalities of Indian security forces against innocent civilians in occupied Kashmir and ceasefire violations targeting civilians along the Line of Control (LoC) and Working Boundary are highly condemnable.
The statements by the Pakistani leadership came amid a complete shutdown marked by curfew and restrictions in occupied Kashmir, against Sunday’s killings of Kashmiri youth at the hands of Indian troops.
Thirteen youth were martyred in a siege and search operation and four in firing on protesters and funerals in Islamabad and Shopian districts of the occupied valley on Sunday.
The fresh wave of violence against Kashmiri people also left over 200 civilians injured.
