APKC to launch diplomatic, political campaign against India

ISLAMABAD: The All Parties Kashmir Conference (APKC) Sunday decided to launch an aggressive diplomatic and political campaign against India, drawing the attention of the world community towards the unresolved Kashmir dispute and Indian forces' atrocities, unleashed on Kashmiris in the Indian Illegally Occupied Kashmir (IIOJK).

The conference urged the UN secretary general to establish a Commission of Inquiry to conduct a comprehensive and independent international inquiry to investigate the killings of Kashmiri people in occupied Kashmir.

To this effect, the conference was organized here at the Jammu Kashmir House. After hours long deliberations, a joint declaration was issued, which vehemently condemned the August 05 measures taken by the Indian regime and reiterated that Kashmiris considered the right to self-determination sacred and were determined to make sacrifices and continue the political struggle for this right.

Along with the top Kashmiri leaders, the Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry, who organized and presided over the moot, announced that it was decided at the conference that demonstrations and rallies will be held in all the big cities of Pakistan, including Muzaffarabad, to draw the world attention towards gruesome human rights violations and systematic killings of Kashmiri people by the brute Indian forces in occupied Kashmir and added that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be pursued everywhere in the world.

The Kashmir issue, he made it clear, would not be allowed to be put into a cold storage. He added public meetings will be arranged in Islamabad and historical demonstrations will be organized in London, Brussels and New York to apprise the international community of the grave situation of occupied Kashmir.

Barrister Sultan Mehmood announced that all Parties Kashmir conference has decided to launch a full-fledged diplomatic and political campaign to apprise the world of the grave situation of the Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The conference paid homage to the historic struggle for the liberation of occupied Kashmir and unparalleled sacrifices offered by the people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir who have been struggling for attaining their fundamental right to self-determination and expressed full solidarity with the Kashmiri people.

Barrister Sultan Mahmood, the Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi, former president and prime minister Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan, former Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan, former Prime Minister Sardar Attiq Ahmad Khan, Senior Minister and President Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Azad Kashmir Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan, President PPP Chaudhry Muhammad Yasin, Opposition Leader Chaudhry Latif Akbar, Chief Organizer PML-N Shah Ghulam Qadir, President JKPP Sardar Hassan Ibrahim, President Muslim Conference Mirza Shafiq Jaral, Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Dr Khalid Mahmood, Maulana Imtiaz Siddiqui of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, former Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Abdul Rashid Turabi addressed the conference. They highlighted the current situation in Occupied Kashmir and offered various suggestions to more effectively project the situation and the longstanding issue.

The AJK president said that "our forefathers liberated Azad Kashmir and now from this base camp we will raise an effective voice for the liberation of Occupied Kashmir all over the world." The Azad Jammu and Kashmir president said that human rights organizations will also be contacted on the situation in Occupied Kashmir.

The participants termed the convening of the Kashmir Conference as timely and said that the president of Azad Kashmir as well the government should play a leading role in this regard.

Meanwhile, a Joint Declaration strongly condemned the 5th August measures, especially India's efforts to change the demography of the state as well as to change the Islamic and cultural identity of the state and vowed that no compromise will be made on the geographical unity, historical and cultural identity and natural resources of the State of Jammu and Kashmir against the interests of the Kashmiri people.

The declaration made it clear that the future of Jammu and Kashmir will be decided in the light of the UN Security Council resolutions for granting the Kashmiri people their fundamental right to self-determination. The Kashmiri people consider the right to self-determination sacred and are determined to make sacrifices and to continue the political struggle for this right.

The All Parties Kashmir Conference welcomed the recent principled stand taken by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to resolve the Kashmir dispute on the basis of UN Charter and Security Council resolutions.

The joint statement called upon the UN Secretary-General to address human rights violations in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir in the light of recommendations of the 2018 and 2019 reports of the UN Human Rights Council to prevent human rights violations by the Indian forces in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, establish a Commission of Inquiry to conduct a comprehensive and independent international inquiry to investigate the killings of Kashmiri people in Occupied Kashmir.

The joint statement also urged the UN Secretary-General for release of all arrested political leaders, business leaders and civil society representatives, including Kashmiri leaders Shabir Ahmad Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Dr Abdul Hameed Fayyaz, Musarat Alam, Naeem Khan and Ms Asiya Andarabi.

The Joint Declaration of the All Parties Kashmir Conference strongly condemned the restrictions on freedom of expression in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, especially the lockdown of the Kashmir Press Club, and the arrest of prominent human rights activists Khurram Pervez and Ahsan Onto.

The conference urged upon media and international human rights organizations to play their role in the release of arrested journalists and human rights activists and also sought their further cooperation in highlighting the plight of Kashmiris, illegally occupied by India.