By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: The world community’s intervention needed to stop modern day holocaust in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), said speakers at virtual contest here on Tuesday. They demanded the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to implement its resolutions on Kashmir in true letter and spirit as the humanity is at stake
in Jammu and Kashmir. The dispute was not a bilateral issue between Pakistan and India but an internationally recognized disputed territory.
The speakers feared that the imposition of presidential rule in occupied Kashmir could further escalate the situation which can trigger a nuclear conflict between the two rivals. Around 29 students including 18 from world renowned universities, studying in the discipline of international relations, history and political science, virtually participated in the ‘International Declamation Contest’ to sensitize the world community about ongoing human rights violations in IIOJK.
Around 11 students from the top universities of Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir also participated in the contest and highlighted various aspects, including the international legal and human rights dimension, of the Kashmir
dispute. Umama Tanveer of International School, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia clinched the first position, Neisbe Yavas of Yildrim Beyazit University Ankara, Turkey secured second, while Arqam of Al Hadeed University, Edinburgh, United
Kingdom and Muhammad Abdullah from National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Pakistan stood at third. Umama said India was pushing Hindu extremism in its country, contrary to Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy that fostered non-violence. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she said, was changing IIOJK residency laws for the first time since 1947, in a bid to snuff out any challenge to the occupied territory. “Drawing comparisons with Israel’s “settler” tactics in the Palestinian Territories, Modi’s Hindu nationalist government aims to change the demographic makeup and identity of the Muslim-majority region,” she remarked. If East Timor, Quebec, Sudan and Scotland issues can be settled through referendum, why can’t Kashmir issue be resolved? she questioned and urged the UN to take concrete steps on Kashmir dispute. Neisbe Yavas while expressing serious concern over the continued bloodshed in the territory, urged the international community to help stop systematic genocide of Kashmiri youth by the brutal Indian force. Arqam Al Hadeed said the situation in Kashmir is a test for the UN and if it failed in resolving the decades long dispute there are possible chance of a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan that would have consequences far beyond the borders. He said Pakistan was doing effective diplomacy on Kashmir and the entire Muslim world must wake up from its slumbers and help Kashmiris in exercise their right of self determination.
Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan, Ali Amin Khan Gandapur in his keynote shed light on the Jammu & Kashmir dispute, particularly the post-August 5 situation. He highlighted the heinous crimes being committed by Indian armed forces in (IIOJK). Gandapur urged the international community to stop India from perpetrating unspeakable crimes against humanity in (IIOJK).
