Vienna, FEB 5 /DNA/ – The Embassy of Pakistan in Vienna organised an event today to observe Kashmir Solidarity Day. Representatives of the Pakistani and Kashmiri expatriate community as well as Austrian nationals of Pakistani origin and local journalists attended the event.
Messages of the President, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and the Minister for Kashmir Affairs on the occasion of the Kashmir Solidarity Day were read out. A documentary film was screened highlighting the gross human rights violations committed by India against the people of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), which continue to grow worse since India’s illegal unilateral actions of 5th August 2019. Pamphlets setting out historical context of the Kashmir dispute and its legal, political and humanitarian dimensions were distributed among the attendees.
Speakers on the occasion included Dr. Arian Faal, a journalist and teacher at the Austrian Diplomatic Academy and Hyat Mehdi, former Ambassador of Pakistan.
Dr. Faal focused on the importance of resolving the Kashmir dispute through dialogue for long term peace and stability in South Asia. He said that people everywhere must be given the chance to decide their own future, which was imperative for ending conflicts around the world.
Ambassador Mehdi highlighted how India’s Hindu-extremist BJP/RSS government was bent upon implementing an ethno-fascist agenda through polices aimed at changing the demographic composition of the IIOJK from a Muslim majority into a Hindu majority State and obliterating its distinct identity. He said that muslims and other minorities throughout India were bearing the brunt of BJP/RSS project to turn India into a Hindu Rashtra. He called upon the international community to raise its voice in support of the people of IIOJK who have been denied the inalienable right to self-determination and continue to suffer decades-long brutal occupation by India which claims to be the world’s largest democracy.
Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador Aftab Ahmed Khokher paid tributes to the people of Kashmir who are waging a heroic struggle and rendering huge sacrifices to win freedom. He added that India’s attempt to equate their freedom struggle with terrorism could not deceive the world and that decades long Indian repression had utterly failed to extinguish the Kashmiris’ love for freedom. Ambassador Khokher reiterated that Pakistan will continue to extend all diplomatic, political and moral support to the people of IIOJK. He also referred to India’s belligerent policies and hegemonic designs, which posed a grave threat to peace and stability in South Asia. He added that Pakistan remained committed to a peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people.
