Kashmir Solidarity Day must be marked by solid, concrete steps: JI chief

LAHORE: Chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman on Wednesday said that the people of Kashmir were fighting the battle for the completion of Pakistan, and urged the country’s rulers to fulfil their responsibility on the Kashmir issue instead of seeking the pleasure of US President Donald Trump.

Addressing a Kashmir Solidarity Day rally on Mall Road, Lahore on Thursday, Rehman said Azad Jammu and Kashmir must be transformed, in real terms, into the base camp of the Kashmir freedom movement. He reaffirmed that JI and the entire Pakistani nation stood firmly with the Kashmiri people.

The JI chief stressed that Kashmir Solidarity Day should not be observed merely as a public holiday or ritual, but must be marked by concrete and practical steps to free the people of Indian-occupied Kashmir from Indian domination and oppression.

He said the nation was told after the Pakistan-India conflict that Islamabad would raise the issue of water rights with India, but questioned what progress had been made so far. He also demanded clarity on the issue of US mediation on Kashmir, asking what had become of those claims.

Rehman categorically stated that no mediation on Kashmir would be acceptable except the right to self-determination in accordance with the will of the Kashmiri people.

He said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pursuing a plan to turn the Muslim majority in Kashmir into a minority after abolishing the region’s special status in violation of international and bilateral agreements. He lamented that Islamabad had failed to adopt a strong and effective stance on these issues since then.

Criticising the United Nations, the JI Emir said the organisation had proved itself helpless, and its silence on atrocities in Kashmir and Palestine was clear evidence of its ineffectiveness. He said Muslim rulers should have strongly protested the UN’s inaction, but instead remained busy appeasing imperial powers.

The JI Emir further said that Trump had formed an institution parallel to the United Nations under the name of a Gaza Peace Board. And, he added, Pakistan’s rulers had joined it against the will of the nation. He warned that the nation would not accept unilateral decisions by the rulers, and strongly opposed any move to send Pakistani troops to Gaza, saying such a step would inevitably make them part of efforts to disarm Hamas. “The Pakistani nation will never forgive such an action,” he warned.

He asserted that the parts of Kashmir that were liberated had been freed through armed struggle, while the international community and the UN remained silent. If this silence continued, he said, it was becoming clear that occupied Kashmir would also be liberated through force. He maintained that the Kashmiri people’s resistance against Indian occupation was fully in line with international law.

Rehman said Pakistan needed rulers who could courageously plead the cases of Kashmir and Palestine. He criticised the prevailing system and ruling elite for failing to deliver the nation’s rights or raise an effective voice for the Muslim Ummah, and called on the people to join Jamaat-e-Islami in a struggle to change the system.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026