MIRPUR: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan accused India of using pernicious and coercive tactics to divert the world’s attention from the human right abuses being committed by the Indian forces against the innocent Kashmiris in India-held Kashmir (IHK).
The president expressed these views while addressing a public meeting arranged by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Bhimbar district.
He applauded the courageous role and resilience of the population dwelling along the Line of Control (LoC).
“We will not be intimated by India’s unprovoked firing and shelling,” he said.
He paid tribute to the brave citizens who had been martyred and seriously wounded due to the constant violations by India of the ceasefire agreement.
He said that India was using pernicious tactics to simply divert the world’s attention from the atrocious human right violations being committed by the Indian forces against the innocent Kashmiris in IHK.
He further said that India had adopted a dastardly approach in its attempt at intimidating the local population living near the LoC by targeting unarmed civilians, school children, educational institutions and livestock.
“These unabated acts of aggression will never succeed in making us renege on our demand for our just right to self-determination. They can not only be termed as acts of terrorism but also grave violations of international humanitarian laws like the Geneva Conventions,” he said.
He said that in the IHK, women and girls were dishonoured and innocent protesters were being murdered, maimed, blinded and illegally imprisoned for merely demanding their right to self-determination as per United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) resolutions.
“India has made the IHK a prison for the Kashmiris. The international community has become a silent spectator due to its strategic, political and economic interests with India,” the AJK president said.
While lamenting India’s deliberate targeting of unarmed civilians, he said that the Pakistan Army had never opened the first fire, nor had it ever targeted civilians living on the other side of the LoC.
“We consider the civilians living across the LoC as our own citizens and India continues to exploit this fact by relentlessly aiming their guns at our civilians,” he said.
The AJK president said that India had unleashed a three-pronged war against Pakistan by torturing and killing Kashmiris in IHK, targeting civilians across the LoC and launching a systematic proxy war to destabilise Pakistan by abetting and sponsoring terrorist activities in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Balochistan and major cities of Pakistan.
Sending a clear and resolute message to India, he said, “The people of AJK, Pakistan and our armed forces will not be intimated by such malicious devices to bring harm to our country or its people.”
The AJK president, on the occasion personally, addressed the issues raised by those affected by cross-border firing and said that the government had allocated substantial funds for constructing bunkers to be used by the citizens in the areas most vulnerable to enemy fire. The construction of the bunkers would be initiated very soon, he added.
He said that every effort was being made for providing ambulances for the evacuation of the injured and for the speedy establishment of basic health facilities in areas adjoining the LoC.
He further said that a modern network of roads would also be laid down in the areas to facilitate the movement of the victims.
He said that compensation for the victims of cross-border firing would be increased and the necessary modalities in that regard would soon be finalised.
He also thanked Pakistan Armed Forces for their untiring efforts in defending the people living along the LoC and said that the people and the government of AJK stood shoulder to shoulder with the valiant soldiers in facing the enemy and the ongoing fight against terrorism.
