Azad Jammu and Kashmir President (AJK) Masood Khan strongly condemned the recent wave of terrorist attacks across Pakistan targeting civilians and security officials.
“These attacks, orchestrated with military precision, are all manifestations of a proxy war against Pakistan. There is no doubt in our mind about the sponsor, engineer, and executor of these attacks,” he said while addressing the Lahore High Court Bar Association.
He said that India had launched a two-pronged war against the Kashmiri people and the state of Pakistan. “The purpose is to destabilise Pakistan and build pressure on Pakistan to dilute its stance on Kashmir,” he said. The Kashmiri president said that the eternal bond of solidarity between Pakistan and the Kashmiri people would never be ruptured by such machinations.
“Pakistan and Jammu Kashmir are incomplete without each other,” he said. He said that the stand of the Kashmiri people and Pakistan on the right to self determination was just and supported by the UN Charter, as well as UN Security Council resolutions mandating a plebiscite to ascertain the wishes of the people.
President Masood paid tributes to the men and women of the disputed state who were offering sacrifices for the liberty and freedom of their people. “Our Kashmiri brothers and sisters are writing the history of freedom with their blood and Indian occupation forces are writing a new history of barbarism,” he said.
He called on the international community to address the humanitarian crisis in occupied Kashmiri. “Silence is acquiescence in the face of gross and massive violations of human rights by Indian occupation forces,” he said. He called on the UN Security Council to hold a debate on the Kashmir issue and appealed to the Human Rights Council to send a fact finding mission to the state.
The president briefed the High Court Bar Association about the steps being taken by the AJK government for the economic development of the territory, especially focusing on infrastructure development, self-sufficiency in electricity, quality education, universal access to health, promotion of tourism, industrialization, and the growth of extractive industry.
He told the lawyers that Azad Jammu and Kashmir had become a part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) after the approval of a motorway, an industrial zone and two hydropower projects.