ISLAMABAD, AUG 9 (DNA) – Sardar Masood Khan, President Azad Jammu and Kashmir, has said that even after a passage of over seven decades of Indian aggression and onslaught, the brave and courageous people of Kashmir have not stepped back an inch from their struggle for liberty and the flame of Azadi (freedom) still burns strong in their hearts.
The President made these remarks while speaking with prominent diaspora Kashmiri leaders in a web-meeting from his office.
Participants of the meeting said that major efforts are required towards intensifying awareness on Kashmir at the international arena and in this regard a defined strategy could be adopted by the diaspora community. They said that they are grateful to the leadership of AJK and Pakistan for highlighting the legitimate cause of the Kashmiri people.
The AJK President said that the people of Kashmir have been struggling for long and they have not caved to Indian intimidation.
The youth of Kashmir have now become the torch bearers of the freedom struggle and the intensity of the resistance in IOJK has seen an exponential increase. After August 5, he said, the issue of Kashmir had once again been internationalized when the global media and leading parliaments of the world debated on Kashmir.
But due to various international events like the Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit and now presidential elections in the US; news and coverage on Kashmir had dwindled, he said.
President Masood Khan has said that India has begun to settle thousands of non-state Hindus from all over India and granted around 400,000 Kashmiri domiciles to them under the illicit New Domicile Rules. Indian businessmen are being granted Indian contracts thereby depriving the local population of economic opportunities.
“Bad news is coming out of IOJK every day. We are running out of time. The time to act is now. India is working overtime to change to local demography and is in the process of administrative reorganization within the disputed territory”, he said.
President AJK informed the participants that we have to take India upon five major fronts: military, political, diplomatic, communication and economic. Our posture, he said, should be proactive and offensive as we are facing a very cunning enemy who has taken refuge in a false narrative on Kashmir.
Referring to his last conversation with Mahathir Mohamad in Putrajaya, Malaysia, the President said very prudent advice was shared with him in which he was told that globally the people of Kashmir should increase their friends and reduce the number of their enemies. He added that we need to make concerted efforts to understand our enemy who has used nothing but brute force against Kashmiris.
The President said that other than mobilizing the international civil society, we must immediately initiate a Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment movement against India. He said that Muslim countries all over the world should also ban the import of all non-Halal products from India.
Participants at the meeting expressed their full support to the government of AJK and Pakistan in helping mobilize support for the Kashmir cause. They informed that renewed level of focused coordination will be commenced in this matter with all stakeholders including various local and international organizations working on Kashmir.
The President praised the endeavours of the diaspora community in creating critical awareness on Kashmir and for reaching out the international media, their political representatives and the civil societies in the country they reside in. “We are indebted to the diaspora community for helping open up new doors for the Kashmiri people and facilitating debates and discussions on the Kashmir issue and helping to raise the profile of this long-lasting issue”, he said. DNA
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