Modi is trapped, Kashmir will win freedom

Ag Agencies

MUZAFFARABAD/ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan and the people of Kashmir around the world Wednesday marked Youm-e-Istehsal over first anniversary of Indian illegal annexation of Occupied Kashmir, Prime Minister Imran Khan slammed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that he is "trapped" and that Kashmiris will be free soon from India's reign of terror.

"It looks as if all of you, from the inside, are feeling a bit like you have lost," he told parliamentarians at the Azad Kashmir Assembly after they made speeches before the prime minister. "I, on the other hand, believe that Kashmiris are going through an era (of suffering) which, God willing, will end in victory for them," he said.

Imran Khan said that Modi had made a huge mistake on August 05 last year. He said that the Indian prime minister was afraid of revoking Article 370 of the Indian Constitution earlier but after winning the elections by appeasing his extremist Hindutva base, Modi took the disastrous step.

"Modi assumed that Pakistan would stay silent as we were trying for friendship (with India)," Imran Khan said, adding, "When India was using pellet guns in Kashmir, before our government, no one was talking about it. Neither was Pakistan doing anything and neither did the UN."

Imran Khan said that it was Modi's "pride" which was the main reason behind India's August 05 move. He said that Modi thought the world would back India and stay silent as he assumed that the West wanted to use India as a counterforce to China.

Highlighting another wrong assumption of the Modi government, the prime minister said that India thought after it would unleash its RSS thugs in the occupied territory and resort to state terrorism, the Kashmiris would surrender.

"Let me tell you, nations have made huge blunders in the past based on proud decisions," he said.

The prime minister said that many world leaders and countries around the world didn't even know what was going on in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K). "At first, the New York Times wouldn't let me write on the issue for them," he said. "I went there and discussed it with the NYTboard (to make them understand)," he added.

He said that the Western media had criticised India on such a large scale for the first time, in the past year ever since it undertook the August 05 move. "Previously, after Bangladesh was created, the world started viewing India in a positive light and not us," he said, adding that the situation had now changed.

Criticising the Indian premier for the massacre in Gujarat, Imran Khan said that Modi could not go to Western countries such as the UK and US as he was banned due to his extremist actions. "No one can become a leader like this, after committing the massacre of thousands of Muslims," he said, adding that Modi's actions in IOJ&K had attracted the world's attention.

"Today, Narendra Modi has been exposed in the world," he said. "And now, the world is watching Kashmir. They are committing injustices there, no doubt, but not according to the extent they had planned," he added.

The premier credited his government for raising its voice for Kashmir in front of the world. He said that it was due to his government's efforts that the Kashmir issue was highlighted and now, the world was noting the situation with concern.

The premier said that he had met Kashmiri leader Farooq Abdullah 10-15 years ago during a conference and he had always spoken about talks with India. "Now, I see even he is saying that Quaid-i-Azam was right (about partition with India)," he said.

"As far as my analysis is concerned, India is entering a blind alley," he said. "I assure you, we will highlight this issue at every forum," he added.

Imran Khan said that his government could not properly implement his plan as there was a "march" (referring to the JUI-F's Azadi dharna) and the coronavirus problem which had caused distractions.

Speaking about Pakistan's first political map released Tuesday, Imran Khan said Pakistan needed to react and tell the world that this was a disputed territory, more so after India claimed Gilgit-Baltistan and other territories. He said response to Indian map was inevitable.

The premier announced that Pakistan will honour Syed Ali Geelani with the Nishan-e-Pakistan award. The premier described him as a "big leader" of not only Kashmir but also of the region.

Earlier, the prime minister tweeted: “Kashmiris in IOJ&K have been subjected to a brutal fascist military siege by India since its illegal actions of 5th Aug last year followed by efforts to change the demography of IOJ&K.”

“I will continue to be an ambassador for all Kashmiris whose voices India has tried to silence through its brutal illegal occupation of IOJ&K,” the PM said, adding that after many years his government raised the Kashmir issue effectively at international forums.

Separately, in an exclusive interview with Aljazeera, the prime minister had said the Modi-led government’s revocation of the special status of Indian IOJ&K last year has turned the disputed region into an "open-air prison" with its economy destroyed.

“Modi was responsible for undermining his country’s legacy of secularism. India fell under the control of an extremist ideology (propounded by) the RSS,” the prime minister was quoted as saying.

The premier added that what India’s Muslims were facing resembles what happened during the extermination of Jews in Nazi Germany.

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Muhammad Farooq Haider Khan while addressing the AJK Assembly called for taking the Kashmiri leadership on board while formulating the strategy on Kashmir.

Farooq Haider said the Kashmiri people are now expecting practical steps from Pakistan.

He demanded the UN to end the illegal military siege imposed by the Indian government in Occupied Kashmir.

The AJK PM said India is bent upon changing the demography of IOJ&K.

He appreciated the visits of the political leadership of Pakistan to the Line of Control and termed it a great source of inspiration for the people of Occupied Kashmir who have been facing immense difficulties and communication lockdown for the last one year.

Meanwhile, President Dr Arif Alvi Wednesday rejected the steps taken by India regarding IOJ&K on August 05 last year and demanded immediate lifting of siege and withdrawal of Indian occupation forces from IOJ&K, saying they must leave the people of Kashmir on their own.

In his rare address in the Senate’ special session on Youm-e-Istehsal, Arif Alvi reiterated that Pakistan would continue to provide moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiris and the day was not far when the sun of independence would rise in Kashmir.

With Chairman Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani in the chair, the special session began with flags of Kashmir and Pakistan on his right and left.

Senators from across the divide blasted Modi for laying foundation of a temple in place of historic Babri Masjid on August 05, razed to the ground by extremist Hindus decades back. At the beginning, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri of JUI-Fazl offered prayers for the martyrs of the Lebanon accident and the incident at the Chaman border.

President Dr Arif Alvi, gave a historical perspective of the Kashmir issue and how since 1947, India kept on betraying the world community and flouting the UN Charter, UNSC resolutions, international laws, including Geneva Convention.

He said that since then millions of people had been martyred, hundreds of thousands of women widowed and were subjected to rape, but the manner in which the valley had been cordoned off in the last one year was unprecedented and the August 05 move and Article 370 cancellation was part of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) manifesto.

The president said that India had committed atrocities by imposing curfew, cutting off communications, controlling medical aid and food supply, oppressing the people by stopping international aid organisations and violating fundamental rights. He added that India empowered the armed forces through the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the Public Safety Act and opened their hands to the tyranny, resulting in increased fake encounters and extrajudicial killings of youth, illegal arrests of political leaders increased and they were placed under house arrest in violation of all UN resolutions regarding Occupied Kashmir.

Arif Alvi noted that the abolition of India's Articles 370 and 35A on Occupied Kashmir was in the BJP's manifesto and it fully reflected the fascist Hindutva policy against minorities in Kashmir. He said that now India was trying to make geographical changes in IOJ&K and Israel was their teacher in this matter as it started occupying certain places in the West Bank and tried to change the geographical situation and pellet guns and in this, Israel was also their teacher.

The president thanked Turkey, China, Malaysia, Iran and Azerbaijan and other countries for their strong support for Pakistan's principled stand on Kashmir issue and paid tribute to them for taking a principled stand against oppression.

The Senate at the end of its special session unanimously passed a resolution calling upon the international community to hold India accountable for its illegal and unilateral actions and human rights violations against the Kashmiri people.

The resolution, moved by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, rejected outright the Indian illegal and unilateral actions of August 05, 2019. The Senate proceedings were witnessed by ambassadors and diplomats of various countries, including from Asia, the Middle East and Europe and some of the countries are China, Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran, Indonesia, Egypt, Spain, Hungary, Jordan, Bosnia, Switzerland, Azerbaijan, South Africa, Germany and Sri Lanka.

The House asked the international community to pressurise India to adhere to its international human rights obligations and allow international media, Human Rights organisations and independent observers’ entry into the IOJ&K to investigate and examine the excessive use of force and violence against the Kashmiri people.

Reiterating Pakistan's full support to the Kashmiri people in their legitimate struggle for right to self-determination, the House demanded the Indian government to immediately lift military a siege in IOJ&K and rescind the illegal and unilateral actions of August 05, 2019. The resolution demanded India to stop its illegal measures to change demographic structure of the occupied territory.

Meanwhile, Anti-India protests are held throughout Pakistan, particularly in Azad Kashmir, while all major cities in Pakistan also held solidarity marches, along with a one-minute silence.

A number of activities were organised in Pakistan and AJK where public leaders and representatives of human rights organisations unravelled the Kashmiris’ sufferings at the hands of the usurper power and appealed to the international community to take serious notice of the atrocities in IOJ&K.

By marking the day as Youm-e-Istehsal, the people of Pakistan and AJK highlighted the world once again the gravity of the festering human tragedy in the IOJ&K.

On the appeal of the Pakistan and AJK governments, protest processions and rallies were held to strongly denounce the completion of one year of military siege of IOJ&K and to express solidarity with the oppressed Kashmiris and exposing India’s brutalities.

A one-minute silence was observed across Pakistan to express solidarity with the IOJ&K people, facing the worst ever suppression and military siege for the last 365 days.

All kind of traffic also came to a complete halt at 10:00am across the country on the first anniversary of New Delhi’s immoral and illegal actions to change the demographic apartheid of the occupied region in a shameful violation of international law.