MUZAFFARBAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan on Tuesday said a war for the freedom of Kashmir had become inevitable, which the whole nation would fight with full determination, shoulder to shoulder with the armed forces of Pakistan.

However, he stressed that before any such war “we will have to create unity in our rank and file and strengthen the economy and defence of our country”.

“Side by side, we will have to go to the bottom of enemy’s strategy and planning to defeat it,” he added.

The president was addressing a conference held on the occasion of the World Human Rights Day, under the auspices of Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS).

The event was also addressed by chairman of the Parliamentary Kashmir Com­m­ittee Syed Fakhar Imam, former AJK prime minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, chairman PICSS retired Maj Gen Saad Khattak, All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Abdullah Geelani, chairman of Kashmir Institute of International Relations Altaf Ahmed Wani and Dr Mujahid Gilani.

President Khan maintained that India’s Aug 5 move was an attack not only on the occupied part of Jammu and Kashmir but also on the liberated territory and Pakistan because since then India had constantly been threatening to attack and capture AJK and impose a war on Pakistan.

He rejected an impression that nothing had been done in AJK and Pakistan as well as at the international level on the Kashmir issue after Aug 5.

“The fact remains that after Aug 5 forceful voice was raised in favour of right to self-determination of Kashmiri people and against human rights violations in occupied Kashmir at the US Congress, its human rights committees, and the parliaments of the UK, Europe and France, and by the governments of Malaysia, China and Iran and Turkey,” he said.

While describing AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan as Pakistan’s defence rampart, the AJK president asserted that the people of these regions had never let the enemy cross this defence line.

“Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan are important for Pakistan not only for its defence but they have also become Pakistan’s economic lifeline because of their natural resources and now CPEC,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, the parliamentary Kashmir committee chairman maintained that the future of both Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir was interlinked and the government, people and the armed forces of Pakistan had full realization of the plight of the people of occupied Kashmir. He regretted that the UN — founded with the basic objective of saving weak nations from the repression of powerful countries — had failed in the case of Kashmir to stop the oppressor India and come to the rescue of the oppressed Kashmiri people.

He asserted that the incumbent government of Pakistan was fully determined to ensure freedom of Kashmiri people and protect their rights, and Prime Minister Imran Khan’s speech in the UN General Assembly was its ample proof.

Former AJK premier Sardar Attique maintained that “Kashmir banega Pakistan” was not just a slogan but an ideology and the goal, which “guaranteed safe future of this region”.

He said the hearts of Kashmiri people beat with the hearts of their Pakistani brethren and Indian repressive measures could not deter the former from pursuing their goal.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2019