MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime MinisterChaudhry Anwarul Haq hasadvised Indian leaders to abandon ‘ridiculous rhetoric’ and instead allow the Kashmiris to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination as enshrined in the UN Security Council resolutions.

“It requires an extraordinary level of shameless audacity to make absurd claims and statements, and Indian politicians, particularly those affiliated with the Hindu fanatic BJP, are adept at it, despite their hands being fully stained with the blood of innocent Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC),” he said in response to a recent statement of India’s defence minister Rajnath Singh.

Speaking at an election rally in occupied Jammu on Sunday last, Mr Singhhad askedthe residents of AJK to join India, claiming they were considered “our own,” unlike in Pakistan, where they were treated as ‘foreigners’.

Mr Haq asserted that India had brazenly deprived the Kashmiri people of their fundamental right to self-determination, and its occupation forces were involved in the killing of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians.

He highlighted grave human rights abuses committed by Indian forces, including mass rapes, extrajudicial killings, and enforced disappearances, dating back to 1947, but especially since 1989.

“The discovery of over 8,000 unnamed mass graves in the occupied Valley is a testament to the brutality inflicted upon Kashmiris by Indian occupation forces,” he added.

The AJK premier maintained that the Indian government had turned occupied Jammu and Kashmir into an open prison, where citizens were forced to live in fear, stripped of their basic human rights and identity.

Mr Haq also criticised India’s aggression along the LoC in AJK, which, he said, had resulted in the deaths of countless civilians, alongside significant material losses.

“How can the people on this side forget the death and destruction caused by unprovoked and relentless shelling by Indian troops [prior to the ceasefire]? How can they forget the brutal murder of innocent people grazing cattle, cutting fodder, or plucking medicinal plants along the LoC?” he asked.

“Instead of worrying about Azad Jammu and Kashmir and issuing ridiculous statements about it, Mr Singh and his ilk should feel remorse and shame for their ghastly actions in Kashmir and focus on ending the illegal occupation of the region,” PM Haq said.

He further called on the Indian government to respect the will of the Kashmiri people, withdraw its occupation forces from the territory, and allow Kashmiris to determine their political future in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.

The AJK premier noted that while the Indian Army was viewed as a murderous force by Kashmiris on both sides of the LoC, the Pakistan Army had always acted as a protector of the people.

He also urged the international community to hold India accountable for its heinous and illegal actions and facilitate the UN sponsored plebiscite in the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2024