The United Jihad Council (UJC), an alliance of over a dozen Kashmiri groups, on Tuesday played down the recent imposition of governor’s rule in India-held Kashmir as a “non-issue,” saying that New Delhi had always run the occupied territory “through its stooges and puppet governments”.
“For the sake of durable peace in the region, it is imperative that India read the writing on the wall, respect the wishes and aspirations of the Kashmiris and hold a free and fair plebiscite in accordance with the pledges made by its leadership after the partition of the sub-continent,” UJC chief Syed Salahuddin, was quoted as saying in a press statement.
According to a private media outlet, the UJC conglomerate on Tuesday held a high-level meeting with Salahuddin in chair to discuss recent events in India-held Kashmir.
During the meeting, the UJC chief warned against a major humanitarian disaster in the face of unrelenting atrocities and human rights violations at the hands of Indian forces in held Kashmir.
Expressing serious concern over the “criminal silence” of the global institutions and powers, he stressed that Islamabad should go beyond its traditional efforts and launch a forceful diplomatic initiative to draw the attention of the world community towards the agonising situation in the held territory.