AJK President calls upon OIC, int'l community to stop genocide in IOK

• Masood Khan says we the Kashmiris have appealed to the int'l community including the OIC to stop the genocide in IoK.
• Masood urges the int'l community to find a solution to the long outstanding Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN.

MIRPUR (AJK): Azad Jammu & Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan has said while the Kashmiris continue to wage a peaceful struggle for their right to self-determination against 900,000 heavily armed Indian troops, no one from the international community has come to their rescue.

In a statement read out at the meeting of OIC Contact Group on Kashmir held at the sideline of 74th UN General Assembly session in New York late Wednesday, he said that over the years we the Kashmiris have appealed to the international community including the Organization for Islamic Cooperation to stop the genocide, carnage and ethnic cleansing happening before their eyes, AJK Presidential Secretariat told Media on Thursday.

AJK President emphasized the UN Security Council to take exception to India's aggressive posture which poses grave dangers to peace and security in the region.

Masood urged the international community to find a final and just solution to the long outstanding Kashmir dispute in accordance with its own resolutions as well as wishes and aspirations of the Kashmiri people.

The AJK president said that on the 52nd consecutive day of curfew and telecommunication blackout, the gun-toting soldiers patrol deserted streets and the people besieged in their homes, have been deprived of food, water and medicines.

“Peaceful protests against Indian actions are being quelled with live ammunition and pellet firing shotguns," he said, adding that thousands of Kashmiri lawmakers, political activists, businessmen, lawyers, students and teachers have been detained and tortured.

He lamented that water boarding, electricity shocks, beatings with cables and rods, feeding of feces are being used against the detainees, and the bulk of the detainees have been shifted to the most notorious prisons of India.

"In midnight raids, Indian soldiers barge into houses, kick and insult the elderly and threaten women with rape and molestation. They have objectified women and are telling them that they are spoils of war after India's victory over Kashmir; he said and added that the present situation has caused human rights and humanitarian crisis in the territory.

Sardar Masood Khan said that India's unilateral and aggressive action of August 5, was in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir, and international humanitarian law.

He said that India is pushing the region to the brink of war and is threatening Pakistan with the use of nuclear weapons. All this aggression and state-terror is

being driven by the fascist Hindutva doctrine, which has vowed that it would wipe out Muslims from South Asia.

The AJK President said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been demanding their right to self-determination for the last 72 years but the international community has left them, at the mercy of the Indian occupiers and tormentors.

Sardar Masood Khan said it is our firm belief that our moral high ground on dialogue and diplomacy would defeat Indian state-terrorism in occupied Kashmir.

Through the OIC Contact Group, the AJK President presented a list of actions for the international community.

He stressed the UN Security Council to immediately convene its meetings and continue to meet regularly until it decides to intervene in Jammu and Kashmir under chapters VI and VII of UN Charter and stop Indian aggression and firmly reject India’s colonial rule and foreign occupation in one part of the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

The President said it is the responsibility of UN Security Council to avoid a potentially devastating war. Furthermore, the UN secretary general must not equivocate but make clear calls for an end to curfews and communication blockades in the held territory, restoration of civil liberties and fundamental freedoms, and release of political prisoners and human rights activists he added.

He suggested to the UN Secretary General to appoint a Special Envoy on Jammu and Kashmir who could assist the Security Council in creating an environment for bringing an end to repression in IOK and open doors for multilateral diplomacy to resolve issue.

The AJK President also called upon the UN Human Rights Council to establish a Commission of Inquiry to monitor and report on the Indian human rights violations in the held territory, and the UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs to make an appeal to the world for launching a humanitarian corridor to address the humanitarian catastrophe in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir through rescue, relief and rehabilitation operations.

He called upon the OIC leadership to project the voice of the Kashmiri people to the UN Secretary General and Security Council to avert a bigger crisis for the entire globe.

He urged the UN to revisit the mandate of the UNMOGIP and help strengthen it; by increasing the number of peacekeepers in view of the deteriorating peace and security situation.

He said that the OIC that under its own Human Rights Commission’s recommendations, it should lead a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against India.

Speaking on the occasion, Mevlut Cavusoglu, Foreign Minister of Turkey, said that the situation in IOK is alarming and has affected the entire region. He said the people in IOK are angry. He said efforts should be made to mobilise the international community.

He also informed the efforts of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in highlighting the plight of the Kashmiris and how he has been reaching out to the world leaders in this regard.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister, Elmar Mammadyarov emphasized emphasized that Azerbaijan, as a responsible member of the international community is deeply concerned about the situation in IOK and supports the peaceful resolution of Jammu and Kashmir principles of international law and the relevant UN SC resolutions.

He said that the recent event on Kashmir held at the French Parliament was a positive development.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir strongly supported the stance of Pakistan on Jammu and Kashmir and called for an early resolution to the issue.

The Contact Group unanimously adopted the joint communiqué on Kashmir.