ISLAMABAD: Azad Jammu Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan has said that India has illegally revoked Articles 35-A and 370 that altered the existing demography of the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK) in a move that can be termed as Occupational Constitutionalism.
The BJP led Indian government has created a fake alternative realism but fortunately the international media and numerous world parliaments have not bought this false narrative and instead, it has presented the true picture of the grave situation in IOJK.
The President made these remarks while talking with the students of King’s College London at an interactive session on Kashmir and Human Rights organized by the King’s College Indo-Pak Development Forum. The event was moderated by Professor Robert Wintemute, Professor of Human Rights at King’s College London and hosted by Ameer Hamza Bullo, President of the King’s College Indo-Pak Development Forum, said a press release received here on Wednesday .
The President on the occasion thanked Professor Wintemute and the students present for providing an opportunity and helping open this critical space for discussing such an important issue at the prestigious King’s College London. This interactive session was a one of kind event at the King’s College London where for the first time various dimensions of the Kashmir issue were discussed in such detail. The event was attended by over 100 students from various disciplines.
The AJK President in his opening remarks said that no religion, society or school of thought allows or sanctions the killing of human beings. The situation in IOJK, he said, is not a border issue or a clash between Hindus and Muslims but in actuality, it is a war between humanity and inhumanity.
He added that the situation in IOJK is dire and the world including the UN Security Council continues to remain quiet, proving that the new world order is broken. This silence exists despite numerous reports published by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Amnesty International and British All-Party Parliamentary Group on Kashmir which describe in detail the egregious human rights violations taking place in IOJK.
The United Nations – after the Second World War – became the face of the new world order and their mission was simple and concise; to save the world from the scourge of war, never allow genocide to take place and to achieve sustainable development goals for the benefit of all.
President Masood Khan said that the rights of the Kashmiris in IOJK – under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and Public Safety Act – are being trampled with impunity as they continue to be killed, blinded, maimed, tortured and illegally incarcerated.
The women, he said are molested and rape is being used as an instrument of war. All these actions are a clear and blatant violation of not only the UN Charter but also numerous international covenants including the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Doctors Without Borders has reported that 45 percent of Kashmiris suffer from some sort of stress-related disorders, while the medical journal Lancet has raised serious concerns over the health conditions prevalent in IOJK.
The people of Kashmir aspire for freedom, liberty, dignity and their inalienable right to self-determination, he said. They, he said, wish for peace and security in the region and do not want to be the source of a nuclear flashpoint between the nuclear states of India and Pakistan.
He said that the right to self-determination is the most fundamental of human rights and both Pakistan and India are bound to facilitate the holding of a referendum under the auspices of the UN SC.–Agencies
