MUZAFFARABAD:
Sardar Masood Khan, President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), said that after reluctantly accepting independence from Pakistan, India adopted a secular doctrine, an insincere attempt to hide nationalism Hindu dominant under the guise of secularism.
He made these remarks at two separate web conferences organized by the Institute of Policy Studies on the theme ‘India: Past, Present and Future: Perceptions of the Muslim World’; and by the Pakistan High Commission in the United Kingdom on the theme “Seeking Justice for Kashmiri Victims of Sexual Violence and Physical Torture, and Widows”.
Speaking at the IPS session – attended by leading international experts from the US, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Nigeria – the president said Hindu fascists are romanticizing an imaginary state of “Akhand Baharat” which they claim to have existed before the arrival of Muslim rulers in the subcontinent. This notion, he says, is not only without historical basis, it is also counterintuitive.
Referring to the false secularism adopted by India, the AJK president said that over the decades, this glue of secularism has come loose and the true face of Indian political masters has been exposed. “Soon after its independence, on October 27, 1947, India began implementing its imperialist agenda and invaded the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Driven by its Hindu extremist policies, India has pursued this agenda over the years,” he said.
Masood Khan said lawmakers and leaders of the BJP, RSS and their affiliates have publicly declared that they will eliminate Muslims in India. This, he said, attracted the attention of Hindu fanatics across India, which consequently impacted the larger political landscape of the neighboring country.
This BJP-RSS nexus has fought three wars in the region; one against its minorities within its own borders, the second against Kashmiris in the occupied territory of Kashmir and the third against all its neighboring countries. “Considering Pakistan as enemy number one, they threatened to wipe it off the face of the earth using nuclear weapons,” he informed.
The AJK president said India’s ambition to become a colonial and imperial power in the region led it to use the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh to sabotage the Belt and Road Initiative. Road (BRI). It also formed a four-member QUAD alliance – comprising India, the US, Japan and Australia – to oppose the BRI and, in particular, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) .
“India is the main obstacle to progress in the region. SAARC has been in trouble for decades and that too because India is obstructing economic integration while it wants to establish its hegemony in South Asia,” the President said.
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Talking about the situation in IOJ&K, he said that India was practicing the policy of lebensraum by re-occupying the state of Jammu and Kashmir, dividing it and now bringing it under the direct rule of Delhi. He compared the new domicile rules introduced in the occupied valley to the policy followed by Nazi Germany against the Jews, based initially on economic strangulation, followed by demonization and marginalization and finally physical extermination.
The President informed that in IOJ&K, political leaders have been incarcerated and youth are being killed and tortured in jails across occupied Kashmir and North India. He added that 13,000 Kashmiri boys have been kidnapped and held in prisons where they are subjected to torture and brainwashing. Bipin Rawat, India’s chief of defense staff, said these boys (some as young as 10) are more dangerous than a pellet gun because they brandish the slogan of Azadi (freedom) and self-determination, he said.
AJK President said members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) should launch a movement of boycott, divestment and sanctions against India, while the private sector of these countries should be discouraged to invest in India because they are committing human rights violations against Kashmiris. and the Muslims of India.
“Start by banning the importation of non-halal meat into OIC countries and establishing a humanitarian fund for Kashmir with the help of the Islamic Development Bank and the Islamic Solidarity Fund.”
He also suggested that an international civil society movement be mobilized to delegitimize Hindutva and campaign to declare the RSS a terrorist organization. “The largest and best trained terrorist organization in the world is the RSS. They have openly declared targeting Muslims not only in South Asia but all over the world,” he added.
Appreciating the supportive role of the OIC, Masood Khan called on the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council to raise their voice against Kashmir and denounce the gross human rights violations taking place in the IOJ&K .
Speaking at the web conference organized by the Pakistan High Commission, the President called on powerful nations to make moral and legal choices to bring India to justice and help dismantle this torture machine in IOJ&K . “Silence is a crime while such torture is openly practiced all over the world,” he said.
He added that 25,000 Hindus from all over India have been given domiciles by IOJ&K; and just as Indian Muslims have become second-class citizens, Kashmiris have to run from pillar to post just to prove that they are subjects of the state. “If we don’t stop this now, IOJ&K will not be a recognizable entity like it is today. Two million Hindus will be welcomed in the coming years,” he said.
The AJK President said India’s non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council would lead to three setbacks in the Council. First, he will attempt to remove the agenda from the UNSC calendar; second, they would try to prevent us from holding informal meetings on Kashmir; and third, they will jeopardize the financing of the UNMOGIP mandate. “As a permanent member of the UNSC, the UK can end this and create balance in the UNSC,” the president said, addressing his audience.
He urged British citizens and its civil society to lead the letter writing and awareness campaign on Kashmir in the international sphere.
He also thanked MP Steve Baker for his active and vocal role in raising the voice of the people of Kashmir by penning a letter. He urged him to use his influence with 10 Downing Street and the FCO to mobilize the UK for advocacy on Kashmir, both in the UK Parliament and the UN Security Council.
The web conference organized by the Pakistan High Commission in London was attended by Pakistan High Commissioner to the UK Nafees Zakaria, MP Afzal Khan, MP Naz Shah, MP Steve Baker, MP Tony Lloyd, MP Imran Hussain, MP Khalid Mahmood, Lord Qurban. Hussain, Advisor Aasim Rashid, Mr. Muzammil Ayub Thakur, President of JKSDMI Raja Najabat Hussain, President of Tahreek-e-Kashmir UK Fahim Kiyani, Dr. Nazir GIllani, Syed Ali Raza, Shaista Safi and other prominent members of the society civil.