By John Okeke
Pakistan authorities have called on global leaders to show solidarity with innocent people of Kashmir, who are being brutally suppressed by Indian Armed Forces.
It also said that the world must provide justice to innocent Kashmiris by asking India to stop the massacre of men, women and specially children in Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
The High Commissioner of Pakistan to Nigeria Major General Waqar Ahmad Kingravi (rtd), while interacting with selected journalists said that government policy of turning India into a Hindu dominated country does not only manipulate its own constitution, but also tramples upon democratic norms.
He noted that actions of Indian authorities debased the United Nations Security Council Resolutions, which recognise the territory as an International Dispute, to which Pakistan is also a legitimate party.
According to him, “These Resolutions promised the people of Kashmir an opportunity to determine their own future through a free and fair plebiscite under UN auspices.
“That promise was reiterated by the Indian Prime Minister Jawarlal Nehru on several occasions, with the assurance that he would respect the verdict of the Kashmiri people and that, if they were to tell India to leave, it would quit Kashmir without hesitation.
“After seven decades, this promise remains unfulfilled. The peaceful protests of the people of Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) have been mercilessly suppressed by the Indian Security Forces, who have been reinforced to make IIOJK the most heavily militarized region of the world”.
The Pakistani Envoy also disclosed that more than 900,000 troops and para military forces are deployed in IIOJK, who resort to indiscriminate killing and destruction of properties of innocent Kashmiris.
He said: “Thousands of youth and local leaders have been arrested without charges and many hundreds have disappeared without trace, suspected to be killed and buried in unmarked graves.
“Ruthless use of live ammunition and pellet guns has killed and maimed thousands of Kashmiris, women have been raped and even children have not been spared the barbarity of the cruel security forces, who are not held accountable for these actions due to draconian laws, specially made for protecting them”.
He said that Indian Government is aware of the fact that the will of the people can never be changed, therefore, they have started making demographic changes through brutal killings and moving Indian populace from other regions of the country to IIOJK.
While insisting that these actions are not acceptable and may lead to a conflict between two nuclear armed states, the High Commissioner said the fascist regime of Prime Minister Modi can trigger this conflict and peace in the region will always be threatened.
He reiterated that Pakistan is always ready to take international journalists and observers to the Line of Control, to make them see with their own eyes how Indian Forces are killing innocent Kashmiris through unprovoked firing on Pakistan’s territory.
“Pakistan Government seeks the support of our brotherly country Nigeria and all International Organizations against these inhuman atrocities being perpetuated on innocent Kashmiris and put pressure on the Indian regime to immediately stop demographic apartheid of Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK),” he pleaded.
He said that one year ago on 5th August 2019, Indian Government took an illegal decision to abrogate Article 370 and 35Aof the Indian constitution.
He added that the bifurcation of the State of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories meant the illegal occupation / integration of the erstwhile State into the Indian territory, which is completely against the will of people of Kashmir and violation of UN articles on Kashmir.
General Kingravi concluded that in order to make the complete world aware of this demographic apartheid in Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan has decided that 5thAugust will always be observed as “Youm-e-Istehsal” (Day of Exploitation).
