MUZAFFARABAD (Dunya News) – Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Thursday reaffirmed Pakistan’s moral, political and diplomatic support to the people of Kashmir, and rejected Indian Supreme Court’s verdict as “politically motivated” and “a tool to consolidate Indian illegal occupation”.
In his address to a special session of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, PM Kakar demanded India desist from consolidating its occupation, revoke the unilateral actions of August 5, 2019 and does not change the demography of the disputed territory.
Chaired by AJK Legislative Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar, the session was attended by AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq and members of the Assembly.
PM Kakar stressed upon India to halt the human rights abuses in IIOJK, repeal emergency laws, withdraw heavy military presence and provide unhindered access to UN bodies and the international media.
Kakar, who is the first-ever caretaker PM to address the AJK Legislative Assembly, paid tribute to the martyrs of the Kashmir movement and to those living along the Line of Control who suffer losses due to Indian ceasefire violations.
He said Pakistan would continue to stand by the people of Kashmir in their struggle and wished them to enjoy their due rights.
“Kashmir is Pakistan’s jugular vein. The word ‘Pakistan’ is incomplete without Kashmir. The people of Pakistan and Kashmir are bound by unique affinity. We share joys and sorrow. Pakistan cannot remain indifferent to the situation in Kashmir… Kashmir runs in our blood. Jammu and Kashmir remains an important facet of Pakistan’s foreign policy,” Kakar remarked.
The caretaker premier said across the political divide, the entire Pakistani leadership stood united to support the Kashmiris for their right to self-determination.
Giving a historical account, the prime minister said the Kashmiris had suffered enormously from conflicts in history. “Even today, the situation has not improved as the majority is still under the subjugation of an oppressor with a different name,” he added.
PM Kakar told the House that Kashmir was the oldest unsettled agenda of the United Nations as the UNSC resolutions remained unimplemented and the Indian government was bent upon consolidating its occupation of disputed territory through a series of legislative and administrative measures.
Referring to the Indian decision to take the Kashmir issue to the United Nations and Indian leaders recognising it as a dispute, Kakar said the current Indian government must honour its longstanding commitment to the UN resolutions.
He said the Indian apex court verdict was politically motivated instead of grounded in law to validate the illegal unilateral measures of August 5, 2019.
The PM said that considering its massive human rights abuses, the Indian title of “world’s largest democracy” should be changed to “world’s largest hypocrisy” where hollow slogans of democracy and diversity were raised to cover up the marginalisation of the minorities, state-sponsored terrorism and illegal occupation.
Calling the Indian actions in IIOJK a breach of the UN charter, the UNSC resolutions and international laws, Kakar said the main objective of the Indian measures was to convert the Kashmiris into a disempowered community in their own land.
However, he said the domestic legislation and judicial verdicts could not absolve India of its obligations.
He said, on one hand, India wished to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council, while on the other its leadership took pride in trampling upon international laws. “Such contradictions reinforced by the Hindutva ideology should be an eye-opener for the international community,” he added.
He said thousands of Kashmiris had been killed, thousands faced forced disappearances and pellet gun injuries and thousands of women suffered molestation, adding that all these rights abuses were documented in two of the UN reports.
Questioning the conscience of the international community, Kakar said despite killings, illegal detention of Kashmiri leaders and destruction of structures, India could not extinguish the flame of freedom from the hearts of Kashmiris.
He said India was afraid of Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Geelani even after his death and sought the death penalty for another leader Yaseen Malik which manifested its failure to suppress the spirit of freedom.
He said Pakistan and the Kashmiris rejected the Indian measures of gerrymandering of constituencies and measures to change the demography.
The prime minister said the Kashmiris had long been deprived of normalcy in their land also hampering the development owing to the fearful environment.
He said Pakistan wanted good neighbourly ties with India, but its unilateral actions of August 5, 2019, had vitiated the environment leaving the onus on India to undo the situation. “Pakistan wants peace with justice, not peace with injustice,” he added.
Coming to the belligerent statements by Indian leaders regarding AJK, the prime minister reiterated that Pakistan had exercised maximum restraint. He said Pakistan would never surrender to any form of threat or intimidation as the country stood firm to safeguard its sovereignty and interests.