JI chief accuses govt of ignoring Kashmir issue

Emir Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Sirajul Haq has urged the government to set aside all political differences with political parties and convene a joint session of the Parliament to devise a roadmap for rescuing the people of the Indian-occupied Kashmir.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, he said the government is persistently ignoring the Kashmir issue which is a matter of life and death for Pakistan, saying that after September 27, Prime Minister Imran Khan's United Nations (UN) speech, the government has ignored the plight of the Kashmiris altogether.

"Political leadership from the government and opposition side must sit together to devise strategy on Kashmir," said Senator Siraj, adding the people are united and asking the rulers to help out their brethren in this most difficult time of their decades long quest to get freedom from Indian yoke. He said the people in the IHK are starving to death and have become virtually prisoners of the Indian forces since the day Modi government abrogated the special status of the held region. Now, he added, it is duty of the rulers to take bold steps in support of Kashmiris who have been fighting the case of realization of Pakistan.

The rulers, said the JI chief, damaged the Kashmir cause and passed the time only through lip service in support of the Kashmir brethren who have been under siege for four months. He warned rulers against the Indian designs, saying the time is running out to make some bold steps on Kashmir. He said New Delhi is bent upon blocking Pakistan's waters from western rivers and turning the country into desert. If designs of the Modi government, he warned, are not thwarted immediately, the country's sovereignty, God forbid, is in danger. But, he said, he has least expectations from the present rulers that they would act decisively against India.

Siraj said the JI has started the "Save Kashmir Movement" since the day the Modi government abrogated the special status of the held valley. The purpose of the movement, he added, is to express solidarity with the Kashmiris and put pressure on the government and international community to shun its silence and help the people exercise their right to self-determination granted them under the UN resolutions. He said the Indian government itself internationalized the Kashmir issue on August 5. Kashmiri Diaspora held worldwide rallies against Indian step taken in violation of the UN resolutions, Indian Constitution and Pak-India mutual agreements, he added.

The Prime Minister, he said, made an impressive speech during the UN General Assembly session in New York which was widely appreciated by the people of Pakistan and Kashmir. But, he added, the government went into deep coma after the PM returned from the USA and did nothing for Kashmir.

He said the struggle of the Kashmiris is legitimate by all means and international laws and it is need of the hour for the rulers to start an aggressive diplomacy and make decisive steps against India's naked aggression in the held area. He demanded the international community to break its silence and help the besieged people exercise their right to self-determination granted them under the different UN resolutions.

JI Naib Emir Mian Aslam, JI AJK chapter head Dr Khalid Mahmood and JI leaders Abdur Rasheed Turabi and Muhammad Ashgar were also present on the occasion .