Muzaffarabad, April 27, 2021 (PPI-OT): Azad Jammu and Kashmir President, Sardar Masood Khan, has stressed the need for converting the Kashmiris’ struggle for right to self-determination into an international human rights movement to make the voice of Kashmiri people more powerful.
Talking to a delegation that called on him in Muzaffarabad today (Tuesday) under the leadership of Vice Chairman International Forum for Justice Mushtaq-ul-Islam and Chairman Pasban-e-Hurriyat Uzair Ahmed Ghazali, he said a joint platform of political leadership exists in AJK and the same forum needs to be constituted at the national level. He said true sentiments of the Kashmiris for achieving the right to self-determination needs to be advocated by such forums at the international level.
Mushtaq-ul-Islam and Uzair Ahmed Ghazali apprised the President about the latest situation in the Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir and plight of the illegally detained Hurriyat leaders, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Aasiya Andrabi, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, Masarrat Alam Bhatt, and others lodged in different jails of India and IIOJK. They said that these political prisoners were faced with a serious threat to their lives due to an alarming surge in COVID-19 in India.
Earlier, talking to a London-based news web portal, the AJK President said the third wave of coronavirus has badly affected millions of people in India, and the death toll is rising with every passing day. He said the situation that erupted in India is alarming for not only the country itself but also for all neighbouring and even distant countries. Keeping in view this situation, Pakistan not only expressed sympathy and solidarity with the Indian people but also offered cooperation and humanitarian assistance to the pandemic-stricken people of India.
In spite of all out oppression by the Indian government towards the Kashmiri people, Pakistan expressed solidarity with India which reflects a firm belief of the people of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir on humanitarianism and human values, he said. “The government of Pakistan has formally offered humanitarian assistance to the Indian people to fight this lethal virus. The face of AJK and Pakistan is a humanitarian face. In this hour of suffering, we express solidarity with the people of India. We are practicing what we believe in,” he added.
President Khan urged India to follow into the footprints of Pakistan in terms of human values, and lift the siege of IIOJK which has been continuing for the last more than 600 days and provide relief to the Kashmiri people. “We expect the same spirit to be demonstrated by India by establishing a humanitarian corridor towards Jammu and Kashmir, the territory they have occupied. There should be humanitarian relief for the besieged population of IIOJK too,” he said.
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