- Masood urges Canadian lawmakers to raise, discuss Kashmir issue
TORONTO: Azad Jammu Kashmir President Masood Khan has urged the Canadian lawmakers and politicians to raise and discuss the Kashmir issue and send a fact-finding mission to both parts of the disputed Kashmiri state to ascertain human rights violations.
Addressing members of the prestigious Canadian International Council, he invited council members to visit Azad Jammu Kashmir and see for themselves the state government’s endeavours to promote human rights, the rule of law, access to justice and accountability; as well as to foster human development by investing heavily in various projects.
The Kashmiri leader told his audience how the international community at the long last has broken its silence on the massive, gross and consistent human rights violations in the Indian-held Kashmir. He drew the attention of the Canadian Council to the UN report released recently in Geneva which meticulously chronicles evidence of a rampant culture of impunity and denial of access to justice in the disputed state.
He said that the All Parties Parliamentary Kashmir Group in the British Parliament would soon release a report to substantiate how India’s two notorious draconian laws – the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the Public Security Act – had given a license to kill Kashmiri people and shield the perpetrators of these crimes from legal scrutiny, prosecution and punishments.
President Masood informed his audience that the root cause of the human rights crisis in Kashmir was the denial of the right to self-determination to the Kashmiri people and India’s refusal to resolve the Kashmir issue through comprehensive dialogue and diplomacy.