Indian action in IoK tantamount to attack on Pakistan: Masood

• Masood Khan says whole nation will have to prepare for the defence of motherland.
• Masood Khan says since the attack on the IoK and imposition of constant curfew, the Indian rulers have frequently been talking about occupying the Azad Kashmir and striking Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan on Thursday said the whole nation would have to prepare for the defence of motherland and to thwart the enemy's aggression as India had already imposed war on Pakistan and the Kashmiri people.

Speaking as chief guest at the conference on "Emerging Regional Security Situation and Kashmir Saga" organized by Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services (PIPS) here, he said the economic stability was imperative to make Pakistan's defence invincible.

He said since the attack on the occupied Kashmir and imposition of constant curfew on August 5 there, the Indian rulers had frequently been talking about occupying the Azad Kashmir and striking Pakistan.

"We consider the Indian assault on the occupied Kashmir as an attack on Pakistan because the held valley is not an alien territory but a Pakistani territory like Azad Kashmir," he said adding that at present the armed forces of Pakistan were fully prepared to respond to any aggression.

The AJK president said the whole Pakistani nation, parliament, media and civil society were on one page, and the people from Karachi to Khyber and from Gwadar to Khunjerab were ready to fight shoulder to shoulder with the valiant armed forces to defend the country and to fight the war of freedom and rights of brethren on the other side of the Line of Control.

While throwing light on the targets of Indian fanatic group RSS, Sardar Masood Khan said Narendra Modi's war hysteria, threats of attack on Azad Kashmir and to disintegrate Pakistan, and the campaign to deprive Indian minorities, including Muslims of the right to live as per their religious values, were part of the ideology of RSS, and the Modi regime was forcefully following it.

About the latest situation of occupied Kashmir, the AJK president said the puppet governor Satya Pal Malik through his announcement of lifting travel restrictions in the held territory was attempting to give an impression to the world that the situation was normal and the curfew was being lifted.

The Indian government, he said, was also giving an impression that it wanted to start construction and development in the occupied Kashmir and bring prosperity for the Kashmiri people though its actions suggested that the held territory was being turned into a hell for its people.

The AJK president expressed the fear that with the intensifying Indian brutalities in occupied Kashmir, the influx of refugees to Azad Kashmir might suddenly increase.

The conference was also addressed by Leader of the House in Senate Shibli Fraz, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan, former Pakistan Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal (retd) Sohail Aman, Fauji Foundation Managing Director Lt Gen (retd) Mohammad Haroon Aslam, MEASAC Research Center Director General Mohammad Abdullah Gul and other speakers.