India must stop its inhuman aggression, immediately leave IIOJK: President

ISLAMABAD: President Dr. Arif Alvi Wednesday demanded that the Indian government must immediately cease inhuman brutalities and aggression against the innocent Kashmiris and leave the illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir as the Kashmiri people were fed up with the unending torture and oppression.

Addressing the special session of Senate, the president read out a set of demands, including immediate end of military siege of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), removal of curbs on communication and movement, ending of gross human rights violations, lifting of social media and Internet blackout, and avoiding imposition of relentless curfew.

The president demanded that all the detained Kashmiri leadership, confined either inside their homes or jailed, should be immediately set free with political activities revived.

Rape against women and cruelty against minors should be stopped, he added. On the occasion, President Alvi reiterated Pakistan’s political, diplomatic and moral support to the Kashmiri people in their just struggle for their right to self-determination.

“We will stand by the Kashmiri people and will not leave them alone. Their sacrifices will, one day, lead to freedom,” he added.

The president said Pakistan was a peace-loving country and it wanted a peaceful resolution of the issue in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions and aspirations of the Kashmiri people.

After assuming the government, he said, Prime Minister Imran Khan made a peaceful gesture but it was not reciprocated by the Indian government.

After the Pulwama attack, Pakistan manifested maturity and returned back their captured pilot, which was highly acknowledged by the world, he added.

The president also disapproved the warmongering attitude of Indian media and their leadership after the incident whereas contrary to that, the Pakistani leadership and its media played a very positive role.

He also lauded the befitting response of the Pakistan armed forces.

“We proved to the world that the Pakistani nation is too strong and no one can ever harm it,” he added.

About the special session of Senate, the president observed that they wanted to draw attention of the United Nations and the international community to the huge sacrifices of Kashmiris and the solidarity expressed by the Pakistani leadership and nation.

Holding the session would have far reaching effects upon the international community, he added.

President Alvi said after August 5 last year, a new wave of suppression and brutality was unleashed against the innocent Kashmiri people in the IIOJK.

The entire occupied valley had been turned into an open jail with deployment of more than 900,000 troops.

Cases of Shahadat (martyrdom) and human rights violations increased manifold after the illegal steps, including revoking of the IIOJK's special status and enactment of illegal Jammu and Kashmir Regulation Acts.

The president also recited a verse of Allama Iqbal to explain the situation in IIOJK.

He said the Indian leadership always stepped back from its promises and agreements, and failed to honour its commitment made with the UNSC to implement its resolutions.

All the pacts and promises were blatantly violated, Geneva Convention over child rights was also violated.

India never held talks under the Simla Agreement of 1973 to discuss the Kashmir issue and stymied all efforts for peaceful resolution of the issue on the pretext of terming it a bilateral issue, he added.

He also read out UNSC Resolution of 47, which assured of holding of an independent plebiscite in accordance with the Kashmiri people's aspirations and retaining the demography in the IIOJK.

President Alvi maintained that Pakistan’s objective was to help remove such horrendous illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the international resolutions.

He noted that the military siege was also taking toll on the livelihoods of the Kashmiri people as reportedly about 700,000 Kashmiri youth were rendered jobless. Its economy suffered a massive loss of about $3 billion.

He said India was only using the pellet guns against the Kashmiri Muslims.

Youths were being arrested and rape against women was used as a tool to silence their voices.

The president said the heart wrenching incident of a nephew sitting on the dead body of his grandfather, which went viral in the recent past, would shake the world’s conscience.

The RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) manifesto expressly based upon extremist and fascist policies and directed against the minorities in India.

The brave Kashmiris had faced all those extremist policies but nothing could suppress their spirit for freedom.

Referring to the recent controversial legislations by the Indian government to change the demography of IIOJK by issuance of domiciles to non-inhabitants, the president said India had been applying inhuman techniques, it had learnt from Israel but rather went ahead of its mentor.

The president also narrated at length the historical background of the IIOJK issue.

He also thanked Turkey, China, Iran, Indonesia, Azerbaijan and other friendly countries for strongly supporting the Kashmir issue.

He also expected the international media to further highlight the issue.

The UN reports, resolutions by the United States congressmen, European Union Parliament and British parliamentarians showed that the world had been taking note of Indian government's illegal and inhuman acts, he added.