Global community urged to help resolve Kashmir dispute

MUZAFFARABAD. President Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry said on Wednesday it was high time that the international community should come forward in a big way to help resolve the lingering Kashmir dispute that had been the main cause and consequence of unrest and human rights violations in the region.

Addressing an Iftar dinner hosted in his honour by former government adviser Sardar Tabarak, the AJK president said he had also drawn the attention of ambassadors of Muslim countries towards the dire situation in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K) seeking their respective countries’ pivotal role to resolve the longstanding dispute peacefully.

“Muslim countries have always supported the Kashmiris’ legitimate right to self-determination,” he said expressing the hope that the Ummah would continue its role in this regard. Expressing his serious concern over India’s relentless suppression of Kashmiris’ political and human rights, Barrister Chaudhry said: “It is our collective responsibility to utilise our freedom to amplify the voice of our brothers and sisters in occupied Kashmir whose voice has been suppressed under the draconian laws”.

Referring to the Jagran hydro power project, he said the project launched during his previous government was now generating revenue of Rs8 billion, with a monthly income of about Rs40 million. “Azad Kashmir will achieve self-sufficiency in electricity if similar projects are initiated,” he remarked.The AJK president also highlighted several significant initiatives, including the provision of Sui gas to Mirpur city, adding he was trying to seek Sui gas supply to Muzaffarabad as well.