India lambasted by AJK govt over GB weather reports, LoC tensions

MIRPUR/ISLAMABAD: India was lambasted by the government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Sunday over including weather reports from Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) in the bulletins of state-owned broadcasters, as well as a rise in aggression from New Delhi across the Line of Control (LoC).

Speaking to journalists after offering Fateha prayers at Mirwaiz Muhammad Yusuf Shah's grave, AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan termed the Indian moves as clear evidence of frustration.

"Indian nefarious motives would never yield desired results and the defeat has become her fate”, he added. "We have nothing to do with the Indian cheap tactics such as broadcasting weather reports on AJK and GB.

"We want to remind the United Nations to fulfil its promises made with the people of Kashmir on their right to self determination,” Haider said further.

Graveyard of Indian forces

The AJK premier asserted that after abrogating the disputed region's special status on August 5, 2019, India was no more a party in the Kashmir dispute.

“India, in fact, is an illegal occupant that violated the international laws and agreements and [is] continuing its occupation through the use of state force”, he said.

The leader also warned India against launching any aggression towards Pakistan or AJK. The region, he added, would be made a graveyard of the Indian forces if they tried to launch attacks.

Haider also recalled prominent leader Mirwaiz Maulvi Muhammad Yusuf Shah's services on his 53rd death anniversary in creating religious, political, and social awareness among the Kashmiri people. He paid a tribute to him and said his role in the freedom movement was unforgettable.

India plotting to shift blame on Pakistan

Separately, AJK President Sardar Masood Khan said India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as well as its occupation forces and intelligence agencies, were hatching a plot against Pakistan and the Kashmiri people.

In a statement issued Sunday from the AJK Presidential Secretariat, Khan said India's occupation forces took advantage of the world’s focus on the coronavirus pandemic and diversion of attention from the ongoing genocide in Kashmir, to intensify killing of the valley's youth and escalate the situation along the LoC.

In the past month, he continued, the Indian forces had killed more than 40 young men from occupied Kashmir in staged encounters. "These are all extrajudicial killings and crimes against humanity,” he said.

The president added that the occupation authorities, however, did not expect two reactions to their murderous campaign in the occupied territory.

Two unexpected reactions for India

Firs,t that the Kashmiris — despite being under a nine-month siege and the coronavirus lockdown — came out in large numbers to openly protest the Indian repression and scorched earth policy.

"The uprising is reminiscent of the mass protests and boycotts by Kashmiris after the martyrdom of Burhan Wani in 2016,” he added.

Secondly, the international media once again was shining a spotlight on Indian atrocities and killings, he said.

Unable to handle the two unforeseen developments, the Indian army and intelligence high command had decided to shift blame to Pakistan by weaving weak suspicious stories that Islamabad was creating and funding new entities to fight New Delhi's occupation apparatus.

'Sabotage, espionage and propaganda'

"They know that the resistance is 100% indigenous”, he said, adding that the Indian intelligence hierarchy — in addition to frequently violating the ceasefire along the LoC — was preparing for a false-flag operation and wargaming to target different parts of Pakistan through proxy wars.

"The Indian occupiers have started to play the victim once again. Pakistan should prepare to counter different forms of aggression by India that it is poised to unleash against Pakistan and Azad Kashmir.

"This includes sabotage, espionage, and propaganda,” he said.

Khan said the Indian authorities were until recently quoting a figure of 230 indigenous "militants”. Now, however, they reported a spike of an additional 350, were talking about fictitious "launch pads” in Azad Kashmir, and preparing the ground for more oppression and aggression.

"When you are pushed against the wall, you rise and reclaim what is yours. Victimhood paves the way for annihilation,” he said.

'Scared of the dead bodies of Kashmiris'

"Kashmiris now say that enough is enough and have risen once again against unrelenting repression."

The AJK leader said the occupied Kashmir police buried the slain martyrs secretly and did not release their bodies to the families out of fear of massive funerals and demonstrations. "Now, they are even scared of the dead bodies of Kashmiris. How are they going to deal with the living?” he asked.

He condemned the use of pellet guns, tear gas, and live ammunition to quell protests in the Himalayan region. "Many would lose their eyesight. There would be blinded. There are fatalities,” he said.

President Khan noted that while the international media and webinars had started highlighting the killing spree in occupied Kashmir, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) remained silent.

UNSC has 'not uttered a single word'

"It had not uttered a single word over the New Domiciles Rules introduced to colonise the Jammu and Kashmir territory and enslave its people.

"It must be clearly understood that the killing spree in the occupied territory and the ceasefire violations along the LoC are designed to create a smokescreen to implement the vicious agenda of New Domicile Rules modelled on Hitler’s Nuremberg Laws.

"Kashmiris would be disenfranchised, displaced, forced out, massacred — all designed to create a Hindu Rashtra,” the president added, noting that India was also flaunting irredentism.

Recently, India had announced to include GB and AJK in its weather bulletins — an outrageous development — but Pakistan should now include the same from the areas of Ladakh, Jammu, and Kashmir occupied illegally by India, he added.